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Coton of Hitcijfielb, Connecticut
1720-1920

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tlToton of Hitcttieto, Connecticut
1720-1920

COMPILED FOR THE
LITCHFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Alain C. White

LITCHnELD, CONN.

ENQUIRED
PRINT *^

GEORGE MORRIS WOODRUFF,

who, as a citizen of Litchfield

and as President of the Historical Society,

preserves the interest

in the traditions of the Town

begun by his great-great-uncle,

JAMES MORRIS,

and continued by his father,

GEORGE CATLIN WOODRUFF,

this book is dedicated

with admiration and esteem.

preface

At a meeting of the Litchfield Historical Society, held on October 6, 1919,
Miss Cornelia B. Smith, Miss Esther H. Thompson and Miss Florence E. Ennis
were appointed a Committee to prepare a History of Litchfield in connection
with the Bi-Centennial celebration planned for Aug^ust, 1920. On November
10, this Committee asked me to undertake the work for them ; and it was
found necessary to have the manuscript ready for the printer to begin work
in January. At first it appeared that it would be a serious handicap to
endeavor to prepare a book of this character in so short a time ; but as the
work progressed it has proved in some ways a distinct advantage.

In the first place, the nature of the book has more or less shaped itself.
There were clearly several things which the time-limit precluded the possi-
bility of attempting ; but which otherwise would have required consideration.
It was not practicable to undertake what might be called a biographical
history. Litchfield has been fortunate in having had, in proportion to its
population, a large percentage of men and women, many still living, whose
biographies would be of general interest. To collect and classify these
was clearly impracticable. It will be found, therefore, that many of our
important names, past and present, are mentioned only casually, and in some
cases not at all. Consequently, by the necessities of the case, this book is
strictly the story of the township, and not the story of the individual
inhabitants.

Again, it was impossible to attempt more than a compilation from sources
readily at hand. These sources, fortunately, were numerous, taken together
astonishingly complete, and» what is especially important, in the main admir-
ably written. Many chapters have written themselves by the simple process
of quotation, and the temptation to rewrite such parts, which would have
been no gain to the reader, has been removed by the pressure of the work.

The task, therefore, was to compile the story of the town on the founda-
tion afforded by the earlier Histories of George C. Woodruff, 1845, and
Payne Kenyon Kilbourne, 1859, with such elaboration as suggested itself,
bringing the book more nearly to date. These two Histories are quoted
throughout, the name: Woodruff or Kilbourne, followed by the page num-
ber, being a sufficient reference. The Statistical Account of Several Towns
in the County of Litchfield, by James Morris, while much shorter in its
contents, is also of extreme importance because of its early date. It forms
pages 85 to 124 of a book called : A Statistical Account of the Towns and
Parishes in the State of Connecticut, published by the Connecticut Academy
of Arts and Sciences, Volume i, Number i. New Haven, 181 1. It appears,
however, that Morris' section was not written until between 1812 and 1814,
and that probably it was bound into the volume in 1815, the earlier date
being retained on the title page. This little work must always remain the
starting point for the historian of Litchfield. Morris, Woodruff and Kil-

viii PREFACE

bourne laid little stress on the period after the Revolution, which to us
now is one of the most interesting parts of the story. Fortunately other
writers have supplemented this deficiency.

The work of Dwight C. Kilbourn on the Bench and Bar, 191 1, with the
many lights it throws upon the Litchfield Law School, and the Chronicles
of a Pioneer School by E. N. Vanderpoel (Mrs. John A. Vanderpoel)i 1903,
with its fascinating picture of the life of Litchfield in the days of Miss
Pierce's Academy as revealed in the diaries and letters which she has col-
lected; the many graphic little sketches and anecdotes compiled by Rev.
George C. Boswell in his Book of Days, 1899 ; Miss Alice T. Bulkeley's His-
toric Litchfield; two works important for tracing Litchfield genealogies,
George C. Woodruff's Residents of Litchfield, written in 1845, but not
published till 1900, and Charles T. Payne's Litchfield and Morris Inscriptions,
1905; the many volumes dealing with single families or individuals^ such as
the splendid Wolcott Memorial, 1881, the two editions of the Memoirs of
Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, 1858 and 1902, and the Lyman Beecher Auto-
biography, 1866; the records of exercises on particular occasions, including
the County Centennial of 1851, and the Presentation of the Litchfield Law
School to the Historical Society in 191 1 ; the War literature, comprising the
Litchfield County Honor Roll of the Revolution, published in 1912 by the
Mary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter, D. A. R., and the two Histories of the
Litchfield County Regiment in the Civil War, by Theodore F. Vaill, 186&,
and Dudley Landon Vaill, 1908; the published Sermons, especially those of
a memorial nature; the several works on the County; the publications of the
Litchfield County University Club; the books dealing only in part with
Litchfield, HoUister's History of Connecticut, 1858, on the one hand, or the
Personal Memories of E. D. Mansfield, 1879, on the other; the collections
of County or State Biographies, such as Payne K. Kilbourne's Litch-
field Biographies, 1851, and the Leading Citizens of Litchfield County,
1896; the files of the newspapers which have been published in Litch-
field, and of the Morris Herald and the Northfield Parish Paper ; the
files of the Litchfield Historical Society, embracing the manuscripts of
lectures, bound and unbound selections of letters, scrap-books and other
collections, such as the Record Book of the Seth F. Plumb Post. No. 80,
G. A. R., and the box of Civil War papers left by Dwight C. Kilbourn : — all
these and others make up a body of material as rich as the most omnivorous
lover of Litchfield's history could desire. There are even novels with their
scenes laid in Litchfield and their incidents based on the history of the town
and the character of its people, notably Harriet Beecher Stowe's Poganuc
People and Jennie Gould Lincoln's An Unwilling Maid.

This book, then, is only a digest of so much of this material as time
has permitted the sifting of, supplemented by contributions from, and the
help of, many members of the Litchfield Historical Society and other persons.

I have been fortunate in securing the collaboration, throughout the
preparation of the work, of Miss Dorothy Bull, who in particular has writ-
ten the chapters on the Revolutionary War and on Modern Litchfield; and
the assistance of Miss Florence Elizabeth Ennis and Miss Ethel M. Smith.
Miss Ennis has written the chapter on the World War and has compiled

V\.i

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PREFACE IX

five sections of the Appendix. Miss Smith has prepared the two other
sections of the Appendix, and has rendered valuable and constant assist-
ance in seeing the book through the press. To Miss Elizabeth Kenyon Coit,
also, are due hearty thanks for aid in preparing a part of the manuscript.
Help in matters of detail has been given by so many persons, that it is
impossible to acknowledge all. I wish, however, to thank in particular
Hon. George M. Woodruff, President, and Mrs. John A. Vanderpoel, Vice-
President and Curator, of the Litchfield Historical Society, for their con-
stant help, encouragement and suggestions in the work; Dr. Arthur E.
Bostwick for the contribution of the original reminiscences forming Chapter
22; Mr. Albert M. Turner, Mr. Herman Foster, Miss Edith L. Dickinson,
and Mrs. Henry C. Alvord, for materials relating respectively to Northfield,
Bantam, Milton, and Morris; Mrs. John Laidlaw Buel (Elizabeth C. Barney
Buel), for the loan of three manuscript lectures; Professor Henry S. Munroe
and Miss Mary Perkins Quincy, for the use of their Lectures on the Trees
of Litchfield; Mr. Frederick K. Morris, for an account of the geological
history of the region; Professor James Kip Finch, for information regard-
ing the local topography; Miss Anna W. Richards, for material relating to
the Congregational Church; Miss Esther H. Thompson, for reminiscences
of former days; Mrs. Dwight C. Kilbourn, for access to her husband's
Library; Mr. R. Henry W. Dwight, for an account of the early Mission
movement in, the County; Miss Cornelia Buxton Smith, Rev. William J.
Brewster, Hon. Thomas F. Ryan, Mr. Travis A. Ganung, Mr. George H.
Hunt, Mr. Frederick Deming, Mr. George C. Woodruff and the Wolcott
and Litchfield Circulating Library Association, for the loan of books and
manuscripts; Miss Clarisse C. Deming, Miss Mabel Bishop, Mrs. L. P.
Bissell, Mr. Cornelius R. Duffie, and Mrs. George McNeill, for the loan
of photographs; the Mary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter, D. A. R., for per-
mission to quote from the Honor Roll of Litchfield County; Mr. Howard
W. Carter, Secretary of the Litchfield County University Club, for permis-
sion to quote from the publications of the Club; and Miss Mary Alice
Hutchins, Assistant Curator of the Litchfield Historical Society, for much
help and many valuable suggestions during my researches at the room of the
Society. Finally I am indebted to the courtesy of the Litchfield Enquirer,
and in particular to the energy and unflagging interest of its superintendent.
Mr. S. Carl Fischer, for preparing the work in the limited time available,
and to Mr. George C. Woodruff, editor and proprietor, for much assistance
in proof-reading.

In quoting directly from older textsv the original spelling has been pre-
served, no matter how incongruous to the modern eye. The punctuation
has, however, sometimes been modified.

Absolute accuracy in a work so hastily compiled is improbable, and
notification of any errors that are discovered will be much appreciated.
Supplemental material relating to the history of the Town will always be
welcomed by the Litchfield Historical Society and all contributions of such
material will be filed for future use. As the history of a community is
embodied not only in books but in the objects that have played a part in
the life of the community, the reader is urged to visit the rooms of the

X PREFACE

Society, if this volume awakes in him a desire to understand more fully
the spirit of the two centuries here described. Contributions of new
objects of historic or scientific interest are always valued and are assured
a permanent place in the collections of the Society.

A. C. W.
Litchfield, Conn., May 17, 1920.

XTable of Contents

1. lutroductorj' 1

2. The Settlement of Litchfield 7

3. The Indians --------- 16

4. The Church on the Green - - 27

5. Colonial Days 38

6. The Age of Homespun, hy Horace Bushnell - - - 50

7. Litchfield in the Kevolution, by Dorothy Bull - - - 65

8. The Golden Age 92

9. The Litchfield Law School 98

10. Miss Pierce's School 110

11. Amusements 121

12. Industries and Merchants; Newspapers . - . - 128

13. The Wolcott Family 141

14. Slavery - 151

15. The Temperance Movement 156

16. Federalists and Demlocrats 162

17. Trees and Parks ; Domestic and Wild Animals - - - 168

18. South Farms; the Morris Academy; Northfield; Milton;

Bantam 178

19. The Churches: the Third and Fourth Congregational

Churches ; the Episcopal Church ; the Methodist Church ;
the Baptist Church; the Roman Catholic Church; the

Cemeteries 195

20. The Old Order Changes 204

21. The Civil War --------- 217

22. Impressions and Post-Impressions, by Dr. A. E. Bosttvick 230

23. The World AVar, by Florence E. Ennis - - - - 245

24. Modern Litchfield, by Dorothy Bull 263

APPENDIX— 5^ Florence E. Ennis and Ethel M. Smith - 277

Xist of miustrations

1. Plan of the Village of Litchfield, 1720-25 - - - Frontispiece

2. The Rev. Storrs O. Seymour, D.D., late President, 1893-1918;

and the Hon. George M. Woodruff, President, 1918- , of

the Litchfield Historical Society _ _ . _ . viii

3. Captain Edgar Beach Van Winklei, late Treasurer, the Litchfield

Historical Society, 1895-1920 ------ ix

4. Mrs. John A. Vanderpoel, Vice-President and Curator, the Litch-

Historical Society, 1898- , Portrait by W. J. L. Foster - xvi

5. The Bronson Store, 1819; First Home of the Litchfield His-

torical Society, 1893-1 901 ; now occupied by the Sanctum
Club, 1906 _-._ I

6. The Litchfield Hills, from Chestnut Hill; Photograph by Wil-

liam H. Sanford ________ 4

7. Bantam Lake from the North; Photograph by Wm. H. Sanford 5

8. North Street -.._._-. -.14

9. South Street; Photograph by W. H. Sanford - - - - 15

10. Primeval Oak, still standing West of the Gould House on North

Street; Photograph by W. H. Sanford - - - - 24

11. Litchfield from Chestnut Hill; from Barber's Historical Collec-

tions, 1836 -_--_----- 25

12. The Second Congregational Church, 176a, from a sketch by Miss

Mary Ann Lewis, copied by E. N. Vanderpoel ; from Chroni-
cles of a Pioneer School. (The building in right of picture
is the Mansion House!) - - - - - - - 32

13. The Rev. Lyman Beechen, Pastor of the Congregational Church,

1810-1826 ---------- 33

14. Ebenezer Marsh House, 1759. Site of the Wolcott and Litch-

field Circulating Librarj^ -_---_. 48

15. Samuel Seymour House, 1784. Now St. Michael's Rectory - 49

16. The First Episcopal Church, formerly situated a Mile west of

the Center. 1749. From a drawing by Chas. T. Payne - 58

17. The Rev. Truman Marsh. Rector of St. Michael's, 1799-1829 - 59

18. Governor Oliver Wolcott), Signer of the Declaration of Inde-

pendence. Portrait by Ralph Earle, 1782 ; From the Wol-
cott Memorial ---------68

19. Mrs. Oliver Wolcott, (Laura Collins). From the Wolcott

Memorial. Painted by Enis, 1782. ----- 69

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii

20. Major Moses Seymour. From a Portrait by Ralph Earle, in the

collection of Hon. Morris W. Seyroour - - - - 78

21 .The Moses Seymour House, 1735. Site of Residence of Hon.

George M. Woodruff -------- 7^

22. Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge; from a Portrait by Ralph Earle, in

the collection of the Litchfield Historical Society - - 86

23. Mrs. Benjamin Tallmadge. (Mary Floyd, after whom was named

the Mary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter, D. A. R.) From a Por-
trait by Ralph Earle, in the collection of the Litchfield His-
torical Society ---------87

24. The Tallmadge House, 1775. Residence of Mrs. John A. Vanderpoel 92

25. Milestone erected near Elm Ridge by Jedediah Strong, 1787 - 93

26. View of the Center about i860, showing Mansion House, 1800,

and the Second Court House, 1798 ----- 96

27. Preparing the Winter's Woodpile for the Mansion House - 97

28. Chief Justice Tapping Reeve, from an Engraving by George Catlin 100

29. Moving the Reeve Law School from its original location on

South Street to West Street in 1846 lOi

30. Judge James Gould. Portrait by Waldo. From Hollister's

History of Connecticut ------- 104

31. The Gould Law School, after it was removed one mile west of

the Center on the Bantam Road and used as a Tenement.

It has since been destroyed by fire ----- 105

32. The Tapping Reeve House, 1774; later owned by Hon. Lewis

B. Woodruff, and now the Residence of his grandson, Lewis

B. Woodruff (Jr). - - 108

33. The James Gould House, built in 1760 by Elisha Sheldon; later

the Sheldon Tavern, where Ge ^ral Wasiiington visited;
afterwards owned by Senator Uriah Tracy, son-in-law of
Judge Gould ; Professor James M. Hoppin of Yale bought
the house in 187 1 from Judge Gould's daughter. It is now
owned by Hon. John P. Elton, and it has recently been
rented as a summer home by Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Sothern
(Julia Marlowe) .____--- 109

34. Miss Sally Pierce - - - - - - - - -H2

35. The Litchfield Academy, 1827 - - - - - - - 113

36. Miss Lucy Sheldon (Mrs. Theron Beach). From a Miniature by

Anson Dickinson, born in Milton, 1779, afterwards a dis-
tinguished miniaturist in New York City - -1 - - 116

37. Miss Lucretia Deming. From a Miniature by Anson Dickinson 117

38. The United States Hotel. Formerly and now again known as

Phelps' Tavern ---------122

39. Dr. Daniel Sheldon ---------123

40. Julius Deming Esq. - - - - - - - - -136

xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

41. The Lindens, built by Julius Deming in 1793; later occupied by

his daughter, Miss Lucretia Deming;, and afterwards by his
grandson, Hon. J. Deming Perkins ; now the Residence of
the Misses Kingsbury -------- 137

42. George C. Woodruff (Jr.), Editor of the Litchfield Enquirer - 140

43. Frederick Wolcott Esq. Portrait by Waldo, 1835. From the

Wolcott Memorial -_._-_-_ 141

44. The Wolcott Housev built in 1753, by Governor Oliver Wolcott

Senior; later enlarged by his son, Frederick Wolcott, now

the Residence of Miss Alice Wolcott. From an old Print. - 150

45. The Wolcott House, from a modern Photograph in the Book

of Days --_.-.---- 151

46. The First National Bank, showing the Drug Store taken down in

1914 and replaced by the Annex occupied by the Litchfield
Savings Society - - - - - - - - -166

47. Governor Oliver Wolcott Jr. From a Crayon Sketch by Rem-

brandt Peale. From the Wolcott Memorial - - _ 167

48. The Beecher Elm, marking the approximate location of the

Beecher House, which is no longer standing - - - 170

49. The Whipping-Post Elm and Litchfield County House and Jail,

erected 1812 and added to 1896 ------ 171

50. Morris Woodruff. From a Portrait by Anson Dickinson - - 178

51. Maplehurst, the Residence of Horatio Benton in South Farms,

later the South Farms Inn, demolished 1917 - - - i79

52. The old Marsh House, Northfield Hill 184

53. The Major David Welch House, Milton, 1745 _ - - - 185

54. The Third Congregational Church, 1827-29; removed to the Tor-

rington Road in 1873, and known as Armory Hall; now

Colonial Hall -___ 194

55. The Fourth (Present) Congregational Church, 1873 - - - 195

56. The Third (Present) St. Michael's Episcopal Church, 1851 - 198

57. The Fallen Steeple at St. Michael's Church, April 11, 1894 - 199

58. The Second (Present) Methodist Church, 1885 - - - - 200

59. Interior of the Second (Present) St. Anthony's Roman Catholic

Church, 1888 ---------- 201

60. The Blizzard of March 12, 1888, showing the Snowdrift near the

House of Dr. Henry W. Buel ------ 206

61. South Street after the Ice Storm of February 20, 1898 - - 207

62. Hon. George C. Woodruff - - - - - - - -210

63. The Centennial Celebration of Litchfield County, 1751 ; from an

old Print - - - - - - - - - -211

64. Chief Justice Origen Storrs Seymour - - _ _ . 214

65. Judge Lewis B. Woodruff - - - -- - - -215

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv

66. Dwight C. Kilbourn _--------220

67. Presentation of Colors to the Nineteenth Connecticut Infantry,

by Hon. William Curtis Noyes, September 10, 1862 - - 221

68. Charge of the Second Connecticut Heavy Artillery at the Battle

of Cold Harbor, June i, 1864. From an old Print in D.

Vaill's The County Regiment 224

69. The Triumphal Arch on East Street, August i, 1865 - - - 225
Hon. J. Deming Perkins -------- 232

Dr. Henry W. Buel - - - 233

Judge Edward W. Seymour ------- 238

Mrs. Edward W. Seymour (Mary Floyd Tallmadge) - - 239

74. Mrs. John Laidlaw Buel (Elizabeth C. Barney Buel), State

Regent, Daughters of the American Revolution - - - 248

75. Charles H. Coit, Chairman, Liberty Loan Campaigns - - - 249

76. Dr. John Laidlaw Buel, Chairman, American Red Cross Home

Service Bureau --- 260

Tj. The Morgan-Weir Post, American Legion : Front row, standing
left to right: Eugenio Cucchi, Gino Valmoretti, Frank B.
Weir, William L. Herbert, T. Joseph Kelly, James H. Catlin,
Clarence E. Perkins, Colombano Sassi, William Mooney,
Albert W. Clock, William F. Slawson, William M. Foord;
Second row, standing left to right : Thomas F. Weir, Charles
H. Turkington, James E. Conroy, Charles I. Page Jr., Clif-
ford H. Danielson, Sutherland A. Beckwith, Macklin Cun-
ningham, William D. Roberg, Alexis Doster, E. Carroll
Johnson, James L. Kirwin, Philip W. Hunt, Arthur D.
Deacon, Archibald A. MacDonald, John F. Barrett, Thomas
Carr, James W. Drury, Edward J. Brahen, Frederick Noz-
zioli, Clarence F. Ganung, Edward A. Brennan, Edwin B.
Perkins, Thomas J. Knox, Timothy F. Higgins. James F.
Burke, Albert S. Fabbri -------261

78. Frederick Deming Esq. --------266

79. The Ruins of the Mansion House and Business Block, after the

Fire of June II, 1886 -------- 267

80. John Arent Vanderpoel -------- 270

81. The Noyes Memorial Building, showing the Sign-Post Elm.

Built in 1901, enlarged in 1906. Home of the Wolcott and
Litchfield Circulating Library, and of the Litchfield His-
torical Society --------- 271

82. Rear-Admiral George Partridge Colvocoresses - - - - 272

83. Colvocoresses Day, November la, 1899. Presentation of Sword 273

84. Hon. Morris Woodruff Seymour ------ 274

85. The Ozias Seymour House, 1807. Later occupied by Chief

Justice Origen S. Seymour; now residence of Hon. Morris

xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

W. Seymour ---------- 275

86. Hon. James P. Woodruff, Judge of Court of Common Pleas, 1920 300

87. Philip P. Hubbard, Town Treasurer, and Hon. John T. Hub-

bard, Judge of Probate, 1920 ------ 301

88. Miss Cornelia Buxton Smith, Clerical Assistant to the Clerk of

the Superior Court, 1920 ------- 304

89. Frank H. Turkington, Sheriff, 1920 - 305

90. John H. Lancaster, County Commissioner, 1920 - - - - 306

91. Board of Selectmen^ 1920. Seated : H. M. Richards, P. C. Burke,

H. T. Weeks ; standing : C. L. Dudley, W. M. Murphy - - 307

92. George H. Hunt, Town Clerk, 1920 ------ 308

93. Hon. Thomas F. Ryan, Postmaster, 1920 ----- 309

94. Parade of the Litchfield Fire Company, July 4, 1892 - - - 334

95. Picnic of the Sanctum Club, 1910 : Front Row, seated : J. C.

Barnard, R. C Swayze, Dr. J. E. Keller, Dr. J. L. Buel,
William H. Sanf ord ; Second Row, seated : S. L. Husted Jr.,
Rev. S. O. Seymour, D.D., William G. Wallbridge, Seymour
Cunningham, William Ray, H. R. Towne, L. A. Ripley,
Rev. John Hutchins, A. R. Gallatin ; Third Row, seated :
J. H. Bronson, Col. A. E. Lamb; standing: B. S. Clark,
John Lindley, William Colgate, G. M. Woodruflf, Frank
Blake, E. D. Curtis, J. P. Elton, C. H. Coit, A. A. Kirkham,
C. R. Duffie, C. T. Payne, Abbott Foster, H. B. Lewis - 335

96. Floyd L. Vanderpoel, President, Trumbull-Vanderpoel Company 340

97. William T. Marsh, Presidenft. Litchfield Water Company - - 341

98. Hon. Winfield Scott Rogers, Chairman, Bantam Ball Bearing

Company ----__-__- 342

99. Miss Nellie M. Scott, President, Bantam Ball Bearing Company 343

100. View of the Center, about i860 ------- 350

loi. View of the Center, 1920 -------- 351

102. Country Road in Winter, Litchfield. Photograph by William

H. Sanford ---------- 360

Mrs. John A. Vandkrpoki., Cihiator. Litchfield Historical Society

CHAPTEB I.

INTRODUCTORY.

The town of Litchfield is the coimty-seat of Litchfield County,
Connecticut, and is situated among the Litchfield Hills, which form
the south-eastern foothills of the Berkshires. The Soldiers' Monu-
ment in the Center Park stands in Latitude 41° 44' 48" North, Longi-
tude 73° 11' 25" West of Greenwich. The exact elevation of the
Center above sea-level has, strangely enough, not been accurately
determined. The Government survey in 1889 gave an approximate
elevation of 1,080 feet, while a later private survey showed 1,113
feet; but as other points on the Government map are decidedly too
high, and some on the private map somewhat too low, the dis-
crepancy is still unexplained. It would be a simple matter to
determine, as the Engineering classes at Camp Columbia, the sum-
mer school of Columbia University, which is located at the southern
end of Bantam Lake, have brought a series of very accurate
measurements as far as the north end of the Lake.

The highest point in the township is the summit of Mount Tom,
with an actual elevation of 1,291 feet; the figure 1,325, given in the
Government's topographical map of 1889, is therefore not at all
exact.

The original area of the township, which included the present
town of Morris, and also a large tract of land set off to the Town
of Torrington in 1866, was 71.9 square miles. The present area is
48.6 square miles.

The largest natural sheet of water in Connecticut, Bantam Lake,
lies in part in the township. Before the separation of Morris, 1859,
it lay entirely in the town limits. The Lake varies about seven
feet in surface elevation between low water and flood, namely
between 892.5 and 899.7 feet above sea level. At a surface elevation
of 893.5 feet, the students of Camp Columbia have determined its
area to be 916 acres, its maximum length 2% miles and its maximum
width % miles, the length of the shore line 91^ miles, the average
depth 16.1 feet, and the capacity 4,800,000,000 gallons.

The name, Litchfield, is supposed without reasonable doubt to
be derived from Lichfield, the Cathedral city of Staffordshire,
England; but no tradition is preserved as to why the name was
given. Much ink has been spent, to little purpose, to explain why
the letter T has been added in the name of our town. Usually its
insertion is laid to an inaccurate clerk at Hartford; but it is not
at all necessary to suppose such an explanation. We shall see, in
our quotations from the early records, how variable all spelling

2 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

was until after 1750, and this was the case in England as much or
nearly as much as in New England. In the English records of the
early Seventeenth Century, Lichfield is spelled Litchfield very fre-
quently; and there is still a small village of Litchfield in the north-
ern part of the county of Hampshire. In Windsor, where so many
of our first settlers came from, we find resident about 1700 a
certain John Wichfield, whose name was also often spelled Witch-
field and gradually took this form exclusively. On the whole it
appears that a simple philological cause would explain the change
as plausibly as any other. Be that as it may, all the other later
towns of the same name in the United States have adopted our
spelling, as well as several families of the name.

The Indian name of the region was Bantam, a name whose deri-
vation will be discussed elsewhere. The first explorers called the
region by several different names. Sometimes it was the New
Plantation, sometimes it was the Western Lands, sometimes the
Western Wilderness, and sometimes the Greenwoods. The last
name, derived from the great tracts of both pitch-pine and white-
pine which were native, is particularly pleasing and Ave must
regret its disappearance locally. The country around New Hart-
ford is still spoken of infrequently by this name, and a trace of the
old Greenwoods Turnpike from Hartford to Canaan, through Nor-
folk, is still preserved in the designation of one of the Norfolk
streets.

The geologic history of Litchfield is extremely interesting, as is
that of every region where some of its varied pages can still be read
by those qualified to do so. We are, however, concerned so urgently
with the story of the last two-hundred years, that the hundreds of
millions of years preceding must be dismissed in the remainder of
this brief introductory chapter. The details given are summarized
from an admirable account of this geologic history specially pre-
pared by Frederick K. Morris, of the Department of Geology of
Columbia University.

The oldest type of rocks around Litchfield may be that called
the Becket Gneiss, which covers a large area to the north, notably
in Torrington, Winchester, Norfolk and Colebrook, and to the south-
west, west of Mount Tom, into Warren and New Milford. These
rocks tell of an old sea into which, in the modern way, rivers poured
their muddy waters. This sea covered all the parts where this
Gneiss is now found, and doubtless stretched on elsewhere, so that
all of our town would have been fine sailing. For untold years
mud was deposited by the rivers, and limestone was forming too;
but whether the limy matter was made by live organisms or was
simply a chemical precipitate cannot be determined. The muds
and limes cemented into rock, in level-lying, orderly strata, layer
hardening upon layer.

Then began a very slow thrusting and folding and lifting of the
earth's crust, which with succeeding ages modified the shore line of

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 3

our sea and built up mountains possibly as high as the Rockies
now are. No trace of these mountains survives in the shapes of
our Litchfield HUls, which shapes are of infinitely more recent
origin, as we shall see. The importance to us of these older, vastly
greater mountains lies in the fact that their formation, thrusting
great masses of rock away from the center of the world, released
the pressure which heretofore had kept more or less rigid the deep,
hot interior of the earth. This rich material from within, the
molten sources of our present granites, together with the eager
gases and vapors we associate with volcanoes, came pushing towards
the surface ever more insistantly and searchingly as the pressure
was more and more relieved. They filled the natural crevices
between the upthrust rocks, until perhaps some great mass of this
upthrust, stratified rock was completely surrounded by the molten
matter from below. With nothing to support it, the mass would
sink engulfed into the underlying liquid depths, and, for aught now
known, the liquids and gases may have reached the surface and
built noble volcanoes.

The chief work of the dissolved vapors from within, in the
Litchfield region, was not however volcanic. The most volatile
substances, water, fluorine, boron, and the rest, were concentrating
in the upper chambers of the molten realms below, with an outward
pressure quite beyond our conception. Eeaching at last the old
sedimentary bottom of our ancient sea, now upthrust into moun-
tains, they soaked into the rock as into a sponge, between its beds
and its mica flakes, in large and small streaks, until the bedded
rock and the molten visitors were blended so inextricably, that
to-day one's hand, in many places, may cover a dozen alternations
of rock type ; while elsewhere long streaks of large-crystaled, glitter-
ing rock may be found cutting through the native rock for hundreds
or thousands of feet. Such streaks are called Pegmatites, and bring
many of the rarer minerals from great depths to within our reach
long after their formation.

The so-called Becket Gneiss, then, is a compound of the old
sediment first described and of the various igneous or molten infil-
trations and saturations to which it was subjected- Rare traces
of the original sediment are still found. According to the Con-
necticut State Geological Survey's Report, 1906, the oldest clear
sediment consists of what is called the "Poughquag Quartzite and
Schist", which is mapped by Prof. Rice and Dr. Loughlan as sur-
rounding Bantam Lake, except on the West and North-west. There
are exposures of it also on the road toward Mount Tom.

Litchfield itself lies upon the next rock to be described. This
is the Hartland Schist, which was originally undoubtedly a
sediment, partly limestone, partly sandstone, but mostly clay shale.
It, too, has undergone profound burial, great heating, and complex
injection by igneous fluids. It is more markedly modified than
the Poughquag Schist. It is a light colored mica-schist, silvery
smooth when fine-grained, crystalline and glittering when the mica

4 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

flakes are large. It is full of garnets, none of which are of gem-
quality, but many are decidedly handsome. Blue and white blade-
like crystals of Kyanite, three inches long, and brown, double-ended
crystals of Staurolite, an inch long, are common.

Among the oldest invaders in these original sediments are the
dark igneous rocks that once were black masses of basalt or trap.
These quite possibly date from an igneous invasion even older than
the one described for the Becket Gneiss, an invasion characterized
by dark molten rocks instead of by light ones. These black rocks
were changed by the squeezing of the earth's crust during the moun-
tain making into the sheeted, streaked, dark, pepper-and-salt rocks
now called Amphibolite Gneiss or Schist. Mount Tom and Little
Mount Tom are made of it, and there is a patch of it west of the
road from Litchfield to East Morris.

North of Mount Prospect lies another great belt of yet another
schist, the Berkshire Schist, probably younger than the Becket
Gneiss. The problem of the relative ages of the schists is indeed
a profoundly difficult one, still far from satisfactory settlement.
All the tentative tables that have been published, such as those of
the Connecticut State Geological Survey, are liable to revision at
any time. All we can say with certainty is that it all happened
very long ago, and that the present complex folding and thrusting
of these oldest rocks are evidence that the mountains they tell of
formed, at one time or at different times, a great area of many
ranges. Beyond the old sea which preceded these mountains we
are powerless to look.

Now followed a third great series of events, the shifting of
shallower seas over the land, the patient downwear of the first
great mountains, the later sinkings and re-elevations of the land.
The changes came so gradually that perhaps the world from century
to century seemed not much less stable then than it does to us to-day.
The changes, too, involved so vast an area than no one region con-
tains more than a fraction of its record- The rocky mass of Mount
Prospect is possibly a witness of this period. It is a dome of
molten rock, of a different and, it would appear, a much later type
than its neighbors. The hill contains many varieties of igneous
rocks, some light, some dark in color, among which are found the
half melted fragments of those earlier rocks already described, which
the uprising liquid masses broke off and engulfed. Here are the
oldest limestones, too, but wholly changed by the hot juices that
have attacked them. Here, finally, are the ores which caused so
much excitement about I860; these were among the last ingredients
to crystalize and were brought last of all to their present resting
places by the molten energies from within. All this may have
happened at about the time that the Appalachians were being folded
and uplifted, the time also when the leisurely dinosaurs were about
to start on their upward evolution.

The next period lies almost wholly outside of the Western High-
land. It includes the making of the red sandstones and the red

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD s

and dark shales of the Connecticut Valley Lowland. It was the
time when the dinosaurs were becoming numerous and large. But
for Litchfield the importance of the age lies in the occurrence of a
renewed and extended volcanic activity, the last outburst of vol-
canism known anywhere between New England and the Kocky
Mountains. Dark lavas, rich in iron-bearing minerals, were injected
into the earth's crust and poured liberally upon its surface from
Nova Scotia to Virginia; and some found their way through the
crust in our township, a part of this last crop of igneous rocks.

In the following age arose a new series of mountains, of a shape
and structure like the present mountains of Utah and Nevada,
which must not be confused with those earlier mountains when the
schists were made. This renewed splitting and tilting of the
earth's crust necessarily left many cracks and zones of crushed
stone called faults, into which, as well as into the less frequent
earlier cracks, we bore hopefidly for artesian water.

Then came two geologic periods, during which the slow attrition
of weather and time wore the mountains down again into one great
level plain, upon which roamed the last of the dinosaurs. The
remarkably even sky-line of our hilltops to-day marks where the
level of this plain used to be, for our hilltops are all that is left
of the surface of the plain.

During the next age, a slow uplift, with many and long halts,
raised the whole plain, enabling the rivers and streams to cut their
present deep valleys inch by inch. Our hills, as we know them,
are the foundations of the ancient mountains, the remnants of the
great plain in which the valleys have been carved by erosion. None
of our hills are the direct result of a special upthrust. But they
trend north and south exactly as did the mountains of which we
see the roots.

There was only one more period in the making cf our landscape,
the time of the ice-age, that most recent great event in geologic
history. A sheet of ice thousands of feet thick moved out over the
continent from centers in Canada. The part that crossed Western
Connecticut melted upon I^ong Island. It has been asserted that
it was not less than 1,500 feet thick where it passed over New Haven.
Such a masterful glacier would freeze into its mass and carry
along with it every particle of soil from the land it traversed; it
would even attack the bed rock and tear out large and small blocks
by simply freezing fast to them and ripping them out of their places as
it moved gradually onward. The hills that form Long Island's
backbone are the general dimiping place of whatever materials,
from fine clay to huge boulders, the melting ice still retained at its
journey's end.

As the ice melted back from off the country, it deposited sheets
and piles of bouldery soil over all the land it had once covered. All
the soil of Connecticut, except recent swamps and river bottoms,
was laid down by the glacier, or by streams of melting water gush-
ing from the ice, or in lakes formed and held in by dams of ice

6 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

across valley outlets. Sometimes the valley outlets were dammed
by glacial drift, which remained after the ice had melted; then the
lakes were permanent or gradually subsided into swamps- Most
conspicuous of the glacial formations are the shoals of boulder clay
formed under the ice, much as an overloaded river builds long
shoals in its bed. The ice glided over these deposits, smoothing
and slicking them, plastering them with fresh material and model-
ing them into long, oval, gently rising hills. Such hills we call
Drumlins, and they are among Nature's most gracefiQ forms. Their
long axis lies in the direction in which the ice moved, just as the
river-shoal is elongated parallel to the water current. There are
many Drumlins about Litchfield, notably on all sides of Bantam
Lake, except on the south. Signs of the glacial action are about
us on every hand: the stray boulders, like the famous Medicine
Kock on Chestnut Hill ; the peat swamps, like the one on the land of
the Litchfield Water Company, where great deposits have been
dumped; the beds of sand or gravel, deposited by the streams within
the ice sheet, or as the deltas of streams rushing out of it; Bantam
Lake itself, which, with its tributary ponds, covered a much larger
tract than it does now, probably including South Plain, Harris
Plain and the Little Plain. These and others testify to us con-
stantly of the past history of Litchfield.

We must turn now to the story of the last two-hundred years,
but let us not forget as we go about the roads and fields of our
township that we can read, in the whale backs of our drumlin hills,
in the level sky-line which was once the level plain, in the uplifted
edges of bedded rock which are the roots of once mighty mountains,
in the shining schists that were once sea-bottom clays and have
been as it were through water and fire, and everywhere in the sheets
and streaks and greater masses of molten volcanic crystalline rock,
an infinitely greater story wherein the only measures of time are
the thicknesses of deposited strata, the periods of mountain build-
ing, the forever unknowable periods of the patient wearing down
again of the mountains by the rivers and waves and weather,
periods in which the pulse of years beats too rapidly to be counted
and into which our whole two centuries will ultimately merge as an
undistinguished instant.

CHAPTER II.

THE SETTLEMENT OF LITCHFIELD.

The following statement of the conditions prevailing before 1715
ia the region in Connecticut, in which Litchfield is situated, is from
Kilbourne, pp. 17-18: "In 1630, about ten years after the landing of
the pilgrims on Plymouth Eock, the whole of the territory of the
present State of Connecticut was conveyed by the Plymouth Com-
pany to Eobert, Earl of Warwick. On the 19th of March, 1631, the
Earl executed the grant since known as the Old Patent of Connecti-
cut, wherein he transferred the same tract to Viscount Say and Seal,
Lord Brooke, John Hampden, John Pym, Sir Richard Saltonstall,
and others. In the summer of 1635, the towns of Hartford, Wethers-
field and Windsor, on the Connecticut River, first began to be settled
by emigrants from the vicinity of Boston. StUl a year later, the
Rev. Thomas Hooker and his congregation made their celebrated
journey through the wilderness, from Cambridge, Mass., to Hartford,
where they took up their permanent residence. In 1637, the Pequot
War was begun and terminated, resulting in the expulsion and
almost total annihilation of the most formidable tribe of Indians
in the colony.

"The first Constitution adopted by the people of Connecticut
bears date, January 15, 1638-9. This continued to form the basis
of our colonial government until the arrival of the Charter of
Charles II., in 1662, when it was nominally superceded. Alternate
troubles with the Dutch and Indians kept the settlers, for many
years, in a perpetual state of discipline and alarm. But while the
political commotions in the old world sometimes agitated the other
American colonies, the people of Connecticut had from the first felt
that their civil rights were guaranteed to them beyond the reach
of any contingency. The Royal Charter was but a confirmation of
privileges which they had long enjoyed. No king-appointed Gov-
ernor or Council annoyed them by their presence or oppressed them
by their acts; but the voters were left to choose their own rulers
and enact their own laws. Indeed, the influence of the crown was
for a long period scarcely felt in the colony. On the accession of
James II., however, in 1685, the whole aspect of affairs was changed.
It was soon rumored that His Majesty had determined to revoke all
the charters granted by his predecessors. The arrival of Sir Edmund
Andros at Boston, in December 1686, bearing a commission as Gov-
ernor of New England, was an event not calculated to allay the
apprehensions of the people of Connecticut. His reputation was

8 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

that of a selfish, grasping despot, bent upon enriching himself and
immediate friends at the expense of the colonists. At this time,
the entire region now known as the County of Litchfield, except a
solitary settlement at Woodbury, on its southern frontier, was an
unexplored wilderness denominated the Western Lands. To save
these lands from the control and disposal of Andros, the Legisla-
ture granted them to the towns of Hartford and Windsor, at least
so much of them as lay east of the Housatonic Kiver. When the
usurpations of Andros were over and the Charter had found its
way back from the hollow of the oak to the Secretary's office, the
Colonial Assembly attempted to resume its title to these lands; but
the towns referred to steadfastly resisted all such claims. The
quarrel was long kept up, but no acts of hostility were committed
until efforts were made to dispose of the tract. Collisions then
became frequent. Explorers, agents and surveyors, of one party,
were summarily arrested and expelled from the disputed territory
by the contestants."

In May 1725 a mob broke open the Jail in Hartford and liberated
the prisoners therein. Kilbourne and others have usually assumed
that this occurred in connection with the arrests in the Western
Lands; Frederick J. Kingsbury, in an address before the Litchfield
Historical Society, 1909, attributed the riot to other causes, adding,
however, that "while the Litchfield disturbance was not the imme-
diate cause of the jail delivery, the feeling engendered by it had
doubtless infused a spirit of disregard for colonial legislation which
made the jail delivery more easy than it might otherwise have been."

However this may be, a compromise was presently arrived at
between the colony on the one hand and the towns of Hartford and
Windsor on the other, by which title to the territory of the Western
Lands was divided between the claimants of both parties. The
township of Litchfield was included in the share assigned to the
towns of Hartford and Windsor. Meanwhile, the towns were not
waiting the consent of the colony, but, as we have seen, were pro-
ceeding with explorations and settlements on their own responsi-
bility, and were endeavoring to substantiate their claims by pur-
chases of the Indian rights to different parts of the Western Lands.

"As early as the year 1657", (Woodruff, p. 7), "I find certain
Indians of the Tunxis or Farmington tribe conveyed to William
Lewis and Samuel Steele of Farmington, certain privileges, as
appears by the following copy of their deed:

"This witnesseth that we Kepaquamp and Querrimus and
Mataneage have sould to William Leawis and Samuel Steele of
ffai-mington A p sell or a tract of land called Matetucke, that js to
say the hill from whence John Standley and John Andrews brought
the black lead, and all the land within eight mylle of that hill on
every side; to dig; and carry away what they will and to build in
jt for ye use of them that labour there; and not otherwise to improve

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 9

ye land. In witness whereof wee have hereunto set our hands, and
thos Jndians above mentioned must free the purchasers from all
claymes by any other Indyans.

Witnes ; John Steel. William Lewis,

february ye 8th 1657. Samuel Steele.

The mark
f ebru ye 8th

of Kepaquamp.
1657.

The mark
f ebru ye Sth

of Querrimus.
1657.

The mark 0/
february ye 8

Mataneage.
1657."

This title was confirmed fifty seven years later, August 11, 1714,
by a quit-claim deed to the same parties and their heirs by the
Indians of these same tribes then living. The deed is given in
full in Woodruff's History, pp. 9-11. It is extremely quaint, but
not sufficiently important to the story of Litchfield to reprint here
entire. It begins:

"To all christian people to whom these presents shall come,
Pethuzso and Taxcronuck with Awowas and ye rest of us ye sub-
scribers, Indians belonging to Tunxses or otherwise ffarmington jn
theyer majesties Colony of Connecticut jn New England send greet-
ing", and continues to reconvey the Hill whence the black lead
came. Just where this hill known as Mattatuck was has caused a
good deal of discussion. Woodruff most plausibly supposed it to
be in the southern part of Harwinton, embracing that town and
also some portion of Plymouth (then Mattatuck or Waterbury) and
Litchfield, possibly what we now know as Northfield and Fluteville.
CertaiJi it is that on the 11th of June 1718, the Farmington claimants
relinquished whatever rights they held under these two deeds to
Hartford and Windsor, and in lieu thereof received one-sixth of
the whole township of Litchfield in fee.

Meanwhile Hartford and Windsor had been busy getting a title

10 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

of their own to the township. The affairs of the Western Lands,
(Kilboume, p. 19), were "transacted by committees. In 1715, these
towns took the initiatory steps towards exploring that portion of
the wilderness now embraced within our corporation limits, and
purchasing whatever rights the natives possessed to the soil. It
would be interesting to know who was the first individual of the
Anglo-Saxon race that ever visited the localities so cherished by us
all. The earliest record evidence is contained in an entry in the
first Book of Eecords in our Town Clerk's of&ce, which is as
follows :

"The Town of Hartford, Dr.

To John Marsh,
May 1715, For 5 days, man and horse, with expenses,
in viewing the Land at the New Plantation, £ 2 0 0

The Town of Hartford, Dr.

Jan. 22, 1715-6, To 6 days journey to Woodbury, to
treat with the Indians about the Western Lands,
by Thomas JSeymour,
To expenses in the journey,

The Town of Hartford, Dr.

To Thomas Seymour, Committee,

May 1716, By 2 quarts of Bum, i

Expenses at Farmington,

Expenses at Waterbury,

Paid Thomas Miner towards the Indian purchase.

Expenses at Woodbury,

Expenses for a Pilot and protection.

Fastening horse-shoes at Waterbury,

Expenses at Waterbury,

Expenses to Col. Whiting, for writing 40 deeds,

" to Capt. Cooke for acknowledging 18 deeds,

" to Ensign Seymour,

" at Arnold's,

" by sending to Windsor,

August 4, 1718.— Sold 11 lots for £

Expenses for writing 20 deeds, to Mr. Fitch,

" to Capt. Cooke for acknowledging deeds,

"for making out a way,

at Arnold's,

" to Thos. Seymour for perambulating north

line
" at Arnold's,

£ 1 4
1 14

0
9

£ 2 18

0 2

7 10

2 11

1 10

1 0

49 10

2 0

1 6

1 0

37 17

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD ii

Feb. 10, 1718, — At a meeting of the Committees, then sold
16 lots reserved by Marsh for Hartford's part,
At same meeting, paid by John Marsh for expenses,
At same meeting, loss of money by mistake in acc't.,
April 14, 1719. — A meeting of the Committees, expenses
April 27. — At a meeting of the Committees, expenses.

By the earliest of these entries, we learn that John Marsh was
sent out from Hartford to view the lands of the New Plantation, in
May 1715. He may, therefore be regarded as emphatically the
pioneer explorer of this township",

Dwight C. Kilbourn, in the Connecticut Quarterly, September
1896, has given us a most pleasing account of this memorable trip,
which could to-day be made in a morning's ride. "So John Marsh
left his wife, Elizabeth Pitkin, and their seven small children, to
spy out this land rumored to be so wonderful, and started on what
seemed to him a perilous journey, for the Indian lurked behind the
forest trees ready for his scalp. He had had in his Hadley birth-
place too intimate an acquaintance with their methods to think
lightly of their presence, and then there were bears, panthers, and
other unpleasant companions likely to greet him. With his horse and
flint-lock musket he started, — the first dozen miles through Farming-
ton to Unionville was through a settled country, with good farms and
houses, then crossing the Tunxis and entering the wilderness of
Burlington, he could only follow over the hills the trails of the
hunters and trappers, and wind his way from one summit to another
as best he could, through the deep valleys and gorges of Harwinton.
Beaching the Mattatuck he forded it a little below the present
railroad station at East Litchfield, at the old fording place, and
began to climb the steep ascents to Chestnut Hill, and arrived
there as the sun was beginning to hide itself behind the moun-
tains beyond. Before him was as beautiful a panorama as mortal
eye could rest upon, — the Lakes sparkling in the sunset, and the
broad meadows around them with the newly started grass, a living
carpet of emerald spreading before him for miles with here and
there a fringe of fresh budding trees, all inviting the weary traveler
to rest and refresh himself. Descending the hill he crossed the'
river near South Mill, and pitched his camp for the night near
the big spring at the southern end of Litchfield Hill, where, a few
years later he chose his home lot.

"All of this fair region which he had seen was called by the
Indians 'Bantam', and comprises large portions of the present
towns of Litchfield, Morris, Bethlehem, Washington, Warren, and
Goshen; and for three days he explored the beautiful, fertile hills
and plains. The Indians were friendly, the fish plenty, game
abundant, and the spicy perfumes of the opening buds and wild
blooming flowers wafted to his old Puritan heart a new sense that
softened his soul and let him enjoy for once his natural blessings;
instead of encountering dangers and tribulations, his journey had

12 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

been one of rest and pleasure. On the fifth, day he returned to
Hartford. What report he made of his trip is not now known.
That he made a favorable report is almost certain, for the next
January Thomas Seymour was sent to Woodbury to treat with the
Indians about these Western Lands, was gone six days, and suc-
ceeded so well in his negotiations that John Minor, the noted magis-
trate of ancient Woodbury, executed a deed of land, from eleven
Indians, covering substantially the township of Litchfield as origin-
ally laid out".

This deed is given herewith in full, from Woodruff's History,
pp. 13-15. "To all people to whom these presents shall come —
Know ye that we CHUSQUNNOAG, COEKSCKEW, QUIUMP,
MAGNASH, KEHOW, SEPUNKUM, PONI, WOKPOSET, SUCK-
QIIN:^fOKQUEEN, TOWEECUME, MANSUMPANSH, NOKKGNO-
TONCKQtTY — Indians natives belonging to the plantation of Pota-
tuck within the colony of Connecticut, for and in consideration of the
sum of fifteen pounds money in hand received to our full satisfaction
and contentment, have given granted bargained and sold and by
these presents do fully freely and absolutely give grant bargain sell
and confirm, unto Colo William Whiting, Mr. John Marsh, and
Mr. Thomas Seymour, a Committee for the town of Hartford, —
Mr. John Eliot, Mr, Daniel Griswold, and Mr. Samuel Kockwell, a
Committee for the Town of Windsor, for themselves, and in the
behalf of the rest of the Inhabitants of the Towns of Hartford and
Windsor, — a certain tract of Land, situate and lying, north of
Waterbury bounds, abutting southerly, partly on Waterbury and
partly on Woodbury, — from Waterbury Kiver westward cross a
part of Waterbury bounds, and cross at the north end of Woodbury
bounds to Shepaug Eiver, and so notherly, in the middle of Shepaug
River, to the sprains of Shepaug River below Mount Tom, then run-
ning up the east branch of Shepaug River, to the place where the
said River runs out of Shepaug Pond, from thence to the north end
of said Pond, then east to Waterbury River, then southerly as the
River runs, to the north end of Waterbury bounds upon the said
River; which said Tract of Land thus described, To Have and to
Hold, to the said Col. William Whiting, Mr. John Marsh, and Mr.
Thomas Seymor, Mr. John Eliot, and Mr. Daniel Griswold, and
Mr. Samuel Rockwell, Committees for the Towns of Hartford and
Windsor, as aforesaid, in behalf of themselves and the rest of the
Inhabitants of said Towns, to them, their heirs and assigns, to
use occupy and improve, as their own proper right of Inheritance,
for their comfort forever; together with all the privileges, appur-
tenances and conditions to the same belonging, or in any wise appur-
taining. And further, we the said Chusqunnoag, Corkscrew, Qui-
ump, Magnash, Kehow, Sepunkum, Poni, Wonposet, Suckqunnok-
queen, Toweecume, Mansumpansh, and Norkgnotonckquy, owners
and proprietors of the above granted Land, do for ourselves and our
heirs, to and with the above said William Whiting, John Marsh,

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Thomas Seymor, John Eliot, Daniel Grriswold, and Samuel Kock-
well, committee as aforesaid, them, their heirs and assigns, covenant
and engage, that we have good right and lawful authority, to sell
the above granted land, — and further, at the desire and request of
the aforesaid committee, and at their own proper cost and charge,
will give a more ample deed.

And for a more full confirmation hereof, we have set to our
hands and seals, this second day of March, in the second year of his
Majesties Keign, Annoq. D. 1715.

Memorandum; before the executing of this instrument, it is
be understood, that the grantors above named have reserved
themselves a piece of ground sufficient for their hunting houses,
near a mountain called Mount Tom.

Signed sealed and deliv
ered in our presence.

Chusqunnoag clL^ his mark. [l.s.

Weroamaug UV his mark. Corkscrew ^^ his mark. [l.s.

Quiump Q^ his mark. [l.s.

Magnash / his mark. [l.s.

Kehow ^"r his mark. [l.s.

Sepunkum ff\ his mark. [l.s

Wognacug l^\ his mark.

Tonhocks •+- his mark.

John Mitchell
Joseph Minor.

Poni

Wonposet

his mark, [l.s
his mark. [l.s.

Suckqunnockqueen

/ his mark. [l.s.
Taweeume^^^j l^is ^^ark. [l.s.
Mansumpansh | his mark. [l.s.

The Indians that subscribed and sealed the above said deed,
appeared personally in Woodbury, the day of the date thereof, and
acknowledged the said deed to be their free and voluntary act and
deed. Before me JOHN MINOK, Justice."

The Committees, named in this deed, conveyed all their interest
in said Lands, to the Towns of Hartford and Windsor, by Deed
dated August 29, 1716.

"The title to this Township", continues Woodruff, p. 16, "having
been entirely vested in the Towns of Hartford and Windsor, and in

14 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

certain inhabitants of Farmington; in 1718, a company was formed
for the settlement of the Town. The Township was divided into
sixty rights or shares^ three of which were reserved for pious uses.
Purchasers having been found for the remaining fifty-seven shares,
on the twenty-seventh of April, 1719, deeds of conveyance of that
date, were made, by committees of the Towns of Hartford and Wind-
sor, and certain inhabitants of Farmington, conveying to the pur-
chasers the whole plantation called Bantam. Exclusive of the
three rights reserved for pious uses, the consideration paid for forty-
eight of the shares was £229.10.0., in bills of public credit. That
paid for seven shares was £31.4.0. The deeds of the above fifty-five
shares, are recorded on our Kecords. How much was paid for the
remaining two shares, which were purchased by John Marsh, does
not appear. The three home lots, with the divisions belonging
thereto, forming one twentieth of the whole plantation, devoted to
public purposes, were, one home lot with the divisions and commons
thereto pertaining, to the first minister, his heirs forever; one, to
the use of the first minister and his successors; and one for the
support of the school. As the Township included about 44,800
acres, the cost per acre did not exceed one penny three farthings.

"It was provided in the Deeds, that, 'the Grantees or their sons,
should build a tenantable house on each home lot, or on their
division, not less than 16 feet square, and personally inhabit them,
by the last day of May 1721, and for three years ensuing; and do
not lease or dispose of their share for five years hereafter, without
consent of Inhabitants or first Planters'.

"The title thus acquired, was immediately after stUl further
confirmed by Act of Assembly in May, 1719, as follows:

"At a General Assembly holden at Hartford, May, A. D. 1719:
Upon the petition of Lieut. John Marsh of Hartford, and Deacon
John Buel of Lebanon, with many others, praying liberty, under
committees appointed by the towns of Hartford and Windsor, to
settle a town westward of Farmington, at a place called Bantam:

"This Assembly do grant liberty, and full power, unto the said
John Marsh and John Buel and partners settlers, being in the
whole fifty-seven in number, to settle a town at said Bantam; the
said town to be divided into sixty rights, three whereof to be
improved for pious uses in said town. And the other fifty-seven
shall be, as soon as may conveniently be, settled upon by the under-
takers, or upon their failure, by others that may be admitted. Said
town to be in length, east and west, eight miles three quarters and
twenty eight rods, and in breadth seven miles and a half, being
bounded eastward by Mattatuck Eiver, westward the bigger part
upon the most western branch of the Shepaug Kiver, and south by
Waterbury bounds and a west line from Waterbury corner unto
Shepaug Kiver; said town to be known by the name of Litchfield,
and to have the following figure for a brand for their horse kind.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 15

viz : 9. And the same power and privileges that other towns in this
Colony do enjoy, are hereby granted to said town'.

"A Patent was afterwards granted to these Proprietors, dated
May 19, 1724, which may be seen in the Appendix-

"The township was originally divided into sixty home lots of
fifteen acres each, as near as could conveniently be done, and any
deficiency there might be, was made up to the owner of the deficient
lot, elsewhere; and still farther divided from time to time, into
Divisions and Pitches of 4, 20, 60, and 100 acres.

"A few individuals commenced the settlement of the town in
the year 1720. In the year 1721, a considerable number, chiefly
froiu the towns of Hartford, Windsor and Lebanon, moved on to the
trace." Kilbourrie says, p. 28, that the first settlers who came in
1720 were Capt. Jacob Griswold, from Windsor, Ezekiel Buck, from
Wethersfield, and John Peck, from Hartford.

''The choice of home-lots", continues Woodruff, p. 19, "was
decided by lot. The first lot selected was about half a mile south
of the Court House, and next to Middle Street or Gallows Lane".
All these selections of lots are shown in Plate I, as well as the
names of the old streets. The second choice was half a mile still
further south; the third three quarters of a mile west of the Court
House, the site of the present Elm Eidge. The eleventh choice was
the lot thirty rods next west of the County Jail corner, which sub-
sequently the Town voted, was not fit for building a house upon.
The Library corner on South Street was the twenty-fifth choice. The
County Jail corner on North Street was the thirty third choice.
Ten lots were selected on Chestnut Hill, on both sides of the road.

"The home lot of the first minister, was located on the comer
of North and East Streets, where now stands the house owned by
Miss Edith D. Kingsbury ; and the twenty acre division appurtenant
thereto, was laid adjoining on the north. The home lot and twenty
acre division for the use of the first minister and his successors,
adjoining on the north; and the home lot and twenty acre division
for the school, adjoining the latter on the north.

"The highway from Bantam river, running westerly through
the village, was laid out twenty rods wide, and called Meeting House
Street, now called East and West Streets. That now called North
Street, twelve rods wide, was called Town Street. That now called
South Street, eight rods wide, was called Town Hill Street. That
now called Gallows Lane, twenty eight rods wide, was called Middle
Street. That now called Lake Street, four rods wide, was called
South Griswold Street; and that now called North LEike Street or
Griswold Street, eight rods wide, was called North Griswold Street.
That now called Prospect Street, twenty rods wide, but soon reduced
to seventeen rods, was called North Street.

"The first Church, Court House, and School House stood nearly
in the center of Meeting House Street, the Court House about oppo-
site the center of Town Street, the Church east, and the School
House west of the Court House".

CHAPTEE III.

THE INDIANS.

According to DeForest (History of the Indians of Connecticut,
1852), Litchfield County was, before the coming of the white men
into the State of Connecticut, 1630-1635, almost a desolate wilderness,
so far as human habitation was concerned. He estimates that the
Indians in the whole State at that time did not exceed six or seven
thousand, and that these were clustered in small groups along the
shores of the Sound and along the larger rivers, where the lands
were best adapted for corn and where they could depend largely
on fishing for their food supply. The occasional raids of the
Mohawks from the Hudson Kiver were a further discouragement to
the Connecticut tribes from inhabiting the western forests of the
State. As the white men arrived in increasing numbers, the Indi-
ans were pushed back into the western wilderness, so that probably
their numbers in Litchfield County increased very much between
1630 and 1720; but their total numbers in the whole State decreased
proportionately much more. Many were killed in the Pequot,
Philip's, and the French and Indian wars; while those who withdrew
into the western wilderness found the lands much poorer for corn
and the fishing greatly inferior.

"At the time of the Litchfield settlement, therefore", says Albert
M. Turner of Northfield, "the woods were not by any means full of
Indians; and though Litchfield was for some years a true frontier
town, the settlement became immediately too strong to fear being
overcome by them. All the same the terrors of Philip's war must
have been constantly present in the thoughts of the colony", and
we shall see presentily something of their fears and alarms.

Cothren (History of Ancient Woodbury, 1854), gives by far
the most detailed account of the Pootatuck tribe, tracing them back
to 1639. Their principal encampment was near the mouth of the
Pomperaug Kiver, so named by the English after their sachem, Pom-
peraug, who died ten or twelve years before the arrival of the
first settlers in 1673. The Wyantinucks, of New Milford, he con-
siders also a branch or clan of the Pootatucks, and their sachem
in 1720 was Weraumaug, whose name appears in the Litchfield deed
of 1716 as a witness. At least three of the signers of that deed seem
to have signed earlier grants to Woodbury settlers, though the spell-
ing of the names varies somewhat. Thus Corkscrew in earlier deeds
appears to have been called Cocksure.

Probably the Bantams, like the Wyantinucks, were mere out-
lying fringes of the Pootatucks. The Scatacooks of Kent, who were

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 17

the last Indians in the County, did not exist as a tribe until 1735,
when they were collected from various scattered remnants by Mau-
wehu, himself a Pequot and a wanderer.

The chief relics of the Indians to-day are the arrow-heads, which
are still turned up occasionally by the plough. Thirty years ago
th^ were very common, though now they are rarely found. An
admirable collection of these, from different sources, will be found
in the latchfield Historical Society's rooms, embracing many differ-
ent shapes and colors. Occasionally the arrow-head was grooved in
such a way as to make the arrow rotate, so that its flight would be
more direct and its effect on entering the body more deadly. Usually
however rotation was provided for by the feathering. Occasionally
larger objects, pestles and mortars, spear-heads, axes, bowls and
rude knives have been found. A fine collection was unearthed in a
grave or deposit by the late Amos C, Benton, when he opened the sand-
pit west of his residence on the South Plain. In the autumn of 1834 a
piece of 'aboriginal sculpture* was found, of which a long account is
given in the Enquirer of October 2, 1834, beginning, "A discovery of a
singular carved stone image, or bust, representing the head, neck
and breast of a human figure, was made a few days since on the
Bantam River, about forty or fifty rods above the mill-dam, half a
mile east of this village". Kilbourne, p. 66, says that this curious
relic is preserved in the Cabinet of Yale College. Since this was
written, unfortunately, «11 trace of the image appears to have
been lost. It is not in the Peabody Museum, nor is there anj
record of its accession.

One other relic of the Indians survives in their signatures to
the deeds of their lands. These Kilbourne omitted as being mere
scrawls. We have copied them from Woodruff's History. Possibly
some at least were individual marks, like a brand. Certainly in
some of the Woodbury deeds, Nonnewaug's mark is quite plainly
a snowshoe, and perhaps some of those on our deeds have their
meaning if we could read them. At any rate, these marks, how-
ever rude, were made by the red man himself, and add a distinctive
touch to the deeds.

In his Centennial Address, 1851, Judge Church spoke rather
bitterly of these deeds, p. 26 : "There are other monuments", he said,
"to be sure, of a later race of Indians; but they are of the white
man's workmanship: the Quit-claim deeds of the Indians' title to
their lands! These are found in several of the Towns in the
County, and upon the public records, signed with marks uncouth
and names unspeakable, and executed with all the solemn mockery
of legal forms. These are still referred to as evidence of fair pur-
chase! Our laws have sedulously protected the minor and the
married woman from the consequences of their best considered acts;
but a deed from an Indian, who knew neither the value of the land
he was required to relinquish, nor the amount of the consideration

1 3 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

he was to receive for it, nor the import nor effect of the paper on
which he scribbled his mark, has been called a fair purchase!"

Certainly the price of fifteen pounds paid to the Indians for the
township of Litchfield does not seem a munificent sum now-a-days;
but it can easily be pointed out that the Indian himself had no legal
title to the lands he was conveying, that the lands were of no value
to him except for hunting and that he distinctly reserved for his
own use the best hunting land, that on Mount Tom. Surely, when
we recollect the general treatment of the American Indian by the
whites, the Litchfield deeds may be considered as a model of fairness!
In connection wtih the Indians' reservation of rights on Mount
Tom, it should be explained that this name probably means the
Indians' mountain, Tom being the generic name applied by early
settlers to any Indian, just as the English soldier is called a Tommy,
though for quite a different reason doubtless. Possibly, Tom was
an affectionate diminutive of Tomahawk? Certainly, the expres-
.sion Indian Tom is found not infrequently in old writings. Here
is an anecdote from the Monitor, January 30, 1787: "The Indian
tribes consider their fondness for strong liquors as a part of their
character, A countryman who had dropped from his cart a keg
of rum met an Indian whom he asked if he had seen his keg on the
road; the Indian laughed in his face, and said: "What a fool are
you to ask an Indian such a question; do not you see that I am
sober? Had I met with your keg, you would have found it empty
on one side of the road, and Indian Tom asleep on the other".

Of direct adventures with the Indians only two authenticated
stories are preserved, both by James Morris, in his Statistical
Account, pp. 96-97: "In May, Captain Jacob Gris would, being alone
in a field, about one mile west of the present court-house, two Indi-
ans suddenly rushed upon him from the woods, took him, pinioned
his arms and carried him oflf. They travelled in a northerly direc-
tion, and the same day arrived in some part of the township now
called Canaan, then a wilderness. The Indians kindled a fire, and
after binding their prisoner hand and foot, lay down to sleep. Gris-
would fortunately disengaging his hands and his feet, while his
arms were yet pinioned, seized their guns, and made his escape into
the woods. After traveling a small distance, he sat down, and
waited till the dawn of day; and although his arms were still
pinioned, he carried both the guns. The savages awoke in the morn-
ing, and finding their prisoner gone, immediately pursued him;
they soon overtook him, and kept in sight of him the greater part
of the day, while he was making his way homeward. When they
came near, he turned and pointed one of his pieces at them: they
then fell back. In this manner he travelled till near sunset; when
he reached an eminence in an open field, about one mile north-west
of the present court-house. He then discharged one of his guns,
which immediately summoned the people to his assistance. The
Indians fled, and Griswould safely returned to his family.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 19

"The capture of Griswould made the inhabitants more cautions
for awhile; but their fears soon subsided. In the month of August
of the year following (1723), Joseph Harris, a respectable inhabitant,
was at work in the woods alone, not far from the place where
Griswould was taken; and being attacked by a party of Indians,
attempted to make his escape. The Indians pursued him; and find-
ing that they could not overtake him, they shot him dead, and scalped
him. As Harris did not return, the inhabitants were alarmed, and
some search was made for him; but the darkness of the night
checked their exertions. The next morning they found his body
and gave it a descent burial. Harris was killed near the north
end of the plain, where the road turns towards Milton, a little east
of a school house, now standing; and for a long time after this
plain was called Harris Plain". It is said that the body of Harris
was found at the foot of a large elm near the comer of the plain.
This elm has long since disappeared; a younger tree now stands
alone near the same spot, and bears a small tablet. A monument
to Harris was placed in the West Cemetery in 1830 by popular
subscription.

"There has been but one instance of murder in this town", wrote
Morris further in 1814, p. 98, "since its first settlement, and that was
perpetrated by John Jacobs, an Indian, upon another Indian, in the
month of February, 1768. The murderer was executed the same
year". This murder created so much excitement, that a distinguished
divine from Farmington, Timothy Pitkin, was asked to preach a ser-
mon to the condemned man before the execution. This remark-
able discourse has been preserved in an old pamphlet, described at
length by Dwight C. Kilboum, (Bench and Bar, 1909, p. 341).

In spite of the fact that the Indians did no serious damage to
the inhabitants, beyond the murder of Harris, the possibility of
trouble was always present. The condition of Litchfield in its
very first years is well described by Kilbourne, p. 37, "Here and
there, little openings had been made in the primeval forest, by the
axes of the settlers. Forty or fifty log cabins were scattered over
the site now occupied by this village and its immediate vicinity. A
temporary palisade stood where our court-house now stands, and
four others were erected in more remote parts of the town for the
protection of the laborers at the clearings: all soon to give place to
stronger and more permanent structures. The nearest white settle-
ments were those at New Milford on the south west and at Wood-
bury on the south, both some fifteen miles distant. An almost
unbroken wilderness stretched westward to the Dutch settlements
on the Hudson, and northward two hundred and fifty miles to the
French villages in Canada. Without mail or newspapers, and with
no regular means of communication with their friends in the older
towns, they seemed indeed shut out from the world, and dependent
on their own little circle for intdlectual and social enjoyment. Is

ao THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

it to be wondered at, that some of the first proprietors should have
fled from scenes so nninyiting and hazardous, even at the risk of
forfeiting the lands they had purchased?

"In the autumn of 1722, a war had broken out between the
Province of Massachusetts and the Eastern Indians, and in a short
time its direful influences were felt in Connecticut, some of which
have already been adverted to. The savages on our borders, many
of whom had previously manifested a peaceful and conciliatory
spirit, gave evidence that their professions of friendship were not
to be relied upon. In the spring of 1723, the Committee of War,
in Hartford, sent a military corps to keep garrison at Litchfield- At
this time, there were about sixty male adults in the town, a large
proportion of whom had families". (See the lists of original pro-
prietors and of first settlers in tlie Appendix).

"Such was the apprehension of danger from the Indians, during
this period, that while one portion of the men were felling the for-
ests, plowing, planting or reaping, others, with their muskets in
hand, were stationed in their vicinity to keep guard". We cannot
help thinking, however that the picture is a little exaggerated, when
Kilboume adds, "The yells of the Indians at the war-dance, an omi-
nous sound, were heard on the distant hills, and at midnight their
signal-fires on Mount Tom lit up the surrounding country with their
baleful gleam". Be that as it may, in August 1723 the murder of
Harris made the settlers keenly alive to their danger. A meeting
was held immediately "to consider of and agree upon some certain
places to fortify or make Garrisons for the safety and preservation
of the inhabitants". At this meeting it was resolved to build four
outlying Forts, to supplement the one on the site of the present
court-house. Nearly two years later, at a Town meeting, May ID,
1725, "it was voted and agreed, that there shall forthwith be erected
one good and substantial Mount, or place convenient for sentinels
to stand in for the better discovering of the enemy and for the safety
of said sentinels when upon their watch or ward; that is to say,
one Mount at each of the four Forts that were first agreed upon and
are already built in said Town, which Mounts shall be built at the
Town's cost, by order and at the discretion of such men as the Town
shall appoint to oversee and carry on the above said work. At the same
meeting, Voted, that Joseph KUbourn shall take the care of build-
ing the Mount at the North Fort, and Samuel Culver shall take the
care of building the Mount at the East Fort, and Jacob Griswold at
the West Fort, and Joseph Bird at the South Fort".

A letter from John Marsh to Governor Talcott written at this
time has happily been preserved. It will be noted that an exchange
of letters between Litchfield and Hartford once in twenty months
was taken as a matter of course at this time:

"Litchfield, June ye 1, 1725. To ye Hon'ble John Talcott, Gov'r.
Sir: Knowing full well ye interest that you, our lawful governor,
dothe feel and hath often exprest about our little settlement in this

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD zi

wilderness, I am moved to write you about our affairs once more.,
Since I was honored by writing to you aboute twentie months ago,
our four fourts or Garresons have been built, all but some mountes
for the convenience of Sentinnels. The Garreson at the west our
townes men have named fourte Griswold, and the north one fourt
Kilbourn because of the godly men who helped most to bild them.
The other fourts one at the south end of the town and on Chestnut
Hill. These Garresons have done our settlers great good in quiet-
ting their fears from the wild Ingians that live in the great woods.

"But we have been so long preserved by God, from much harm,
and we praise his nam for it, and take hope for the time to come.
Many of our people morne for there old home on the Great Biver, but
they are agread not to go back.

"About the moundes at the fourtes. I am enstructed by ye
select men to make known to you their desires that the CoUony shall
pay for them.

"With many and true wishes that God will preserve you and his
CoUony for the working out of his good pleasure, I am yours inost
truly, John Marsh, Town Clerk".

Of these forts, Morris wrote , p. 94, "Between the years 1720
and 1730, five houses were surrounded with palisadoes. One of
these stood on the ground near the present court-house; another
about half a mile south; one east, and one west of the centre; and
one in South Farms. Soldiers were then stationed here, to guard
the inhabitants, both while they were at work in the field, and
while they were attending public worship on the Sabbath".

These forts, however, were not considered adequate to protect
the settlement during these critical years. "On the 1st of April,
1724", Kilbourne, p. 39, "John Marsh was chosen agent of the town
'to represent their state to the General Assembly concerning the
settlement and continuing of their inhabitants in times of war and
danger'.

"In May, the subject of the Indian disturbances in this quarter
occupied much of the time and attention of the Council of War and
of the Legislature. The Indians on the western lands were ordered
to repair immediately to their respective places of residence, and
not to go into the woofts without Englishmen in company with them,
'nor to be seen, contrary to this order, anywhere north of the road
leading from Hartford to Farmington, Waterbury, and so on to New
Milford'. They were warned to submit to this order on pain of
being looked upon as enemies, and treated accordingly. Two hun-
dred men from Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor, were directed
to hold themselves in readiness to march at the shortest notice; and
sixty more from each of the comities of New Haven, Fairfield and
New London, with their proper officers, were called for to supply
the garrisons at Litchfield and New Milford, when the soldiers then
at those posts should be withdrawn. Friendly Indians were to be

^ THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

employed in scouting with the English, and twenty pounds each were
to be paid for the scalps of the enemy Indians. An effective scout was
to be kept marching in the woods north of Litchfield between Sims-
bury, Westfleld and Sackett's Farm, (Sharon). The thirty two
men, sent on to scout from Litchfield were directed to be drawn off
in ten dayB'^ During the Legislative Session of May 1725, Nathaniel
Watson, of Windsor, and Matthew Woodruff, of Farmington, each
presented a petition for a bounty for having shot an Indian during
the preceding summer, while in the King's service at Litchfield.

Among the papers on file in the office of the Secretary of State
is the following memorandum made by Governor Talcott (Kil-
bourne, p. 41).

"A brief account of the minutes of the Council of War Book, of men
sent into the service this summer, from May 24, to October 6, 1724 :

After the Assembly rose, ten men were sent to Litchfield, till June 24.

June 25 — Four men sent to Litchfield from Hartford.

June 30 — Major Burr sent ten men, and Major Eles ten men, to New
Milford and Litchfield.

July 27 — Six men sent from Woodbury to keep garrison at Shepaug
twenty days.

August 18 — Fifteen men were improved in scouts under the command
of Sergt. Joseph Churchill, at Litchfield and New Milford; have orders
sent to the sth instant of October to draw off and disband.

October, 1724. JOSEPH TALCOTT."

At the General Assembly, in May 1725, Joseph Churchill, of
Wethersfield, mentioned in tie preceding paragraph, presented a
Memorial, stating that he had served for fifteen weeks at Litchfield,
but had received no pay for Sundays. He therefore aaked pay for fif-
teen Sundays. This was granted in the Lower House, but lost in the
Council

"By our Town Records it appears", (Kilbourne, p. 42), "that on
the 151ii of October, 1724, a Memorial to the General Assembly was
agreed upon and ordered to be signed by John Marsh, in the name
of the town, and sent to New Haven by lie hand of Timothy Collins,
to be delivered to the Court. This Memorial is not on record in Litch-
field, but is fortunately preserved among the files in the Secretary's
office in Hartford. It is an impressive and interesting document,
and eloquently details the trials and perils encountered by our
fathers :

"A Memorial of the distressed state of the inhabitants of the Town
of Litchfield, which we humbly lay before the Honorable General Assembly
now sitting in New Haven :

May it please your Honors to hear us in a few things. Inasmuch as
there was a prospect of the war's moving into these parts the last year, the
Governor and Council — moved with paternal regards for our safety — ordered
Garrisons forthwith to be erected in this town. In obedience thereto, laying

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 23

aside all other business, we engaged in that work, and built our fortifications
without any assistance from abroad, whereby our seed-time in some measure
was lost, and consequently our harvest this year small The seat of the
war in this colony (in the whole course of the concluding summer), being
in this town, notwithstanding the special care taken of us by the Honorable
Committee of War, and the great expense the colony has been at for our
security^ yet the circumstances of our town remain very di£Ficult in several
respects. The danger and charge of laboring abroad is so great, that a
considerable part of our improvable lands remote from the town lie unim-
proved, whereby we are greatly impoverished, so that many of our inhabitants
are rendered incapable of pajnng their taxes which have been granted for
the settling and maintaining of our ministry and building a meeting-house,
which we are yet destitute of, whereby that great work seems to be imder a
fatal necessity of being neglected.

Many of our Inhabitants are drawn off, which renders us very weak
and unable to defend ourselves from the common enemy, and the duties
of Watching and Warding are become very heavy.

By reason of the late war, our lands are become of little value, so
that they who are desirous of selling, to subsist their families and defray
public charges which necessarily arise in a new place, are unable to do it.
Your humble petitioners therefore pray this Honorable Court would be
pleased to take thought of our difficult circumstances, and spread the gar-
ment of pity over our present distress, which moves us to beg relief in
several respects :

1. That our deserting proprietors, who do not personally inhabit, may
be ordered to settle themselves or others upon their Rights, which will not
only be an encouragement to those that tarry, and render our burden more
tolerable, but prevent much charge to the colony.

2. That our Inhabitants may be under some wages, that they may be
capable of subsisting in the town, and not labor under the difficulty of war
and famine together.

3. That some addition be made to the price of billeting soldiers, especi-
ally for this town, where the provision, at least a greater part of it, hath been
fetched near twenty miles for the billeting of soldiers this year.

4. That some act be made concerning Fortified Houses, that the peo-
ple may have free liberty of the use of said Houses as there is occasion-

5. That there may be an explanation of the Act of the Governor and
Council made the last summer, which obliges every proprietor of a home
lot to attend the military, by himself or some other person in his room, as
the law directs, in case a person hath fifty pounds in the public list; for
many of our deserters have put off their home lots and some of their lands,
so that many of them have not a whole Right or a home lot in this place,
and so escape execution upon that act.

As to the Indians himting in our woods, we submit to your Honors'
ordering that affair as in your wisdom you shall think best for us.

All of which we humbly recommend to the consideration of this Honor-
able Assembly, and ourselves your servants desiring Heaven's blessing to
rest upon you, and that God Almighty may be with you, to direct in all

24 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

weighty affairs which are before you, and make you rich blessings in your
day and generation, your humble petitioners shall, as in duty bound, ever,
pray.

JOHN MARSH,

In the name and by desire of the rest".

Another petition wa« presented by John Marsh and others at
the next Legislative Session, May 1725; this and the Resolutions
adopted as a result by the General Assembly are given at length by
Ejlboume, pp. 4346. It will be sufficient to reprint here the follow-
ing Resolutions, passed by the General Assembly at the spring ses-
sion of 1725.

"This Assembly, taking into consideration the difficulties of the Town
of Litchfield in this time of trouble with the Indians, and that sundry per-
sons claiming Rights in said Town are not resident in the same, have there-
fore Resolved :

1. That each person claiming a Right or Rights in said Town, that
shall not be constantly residing in said Town, shall pay and forfeit, towards
defraying the public charges in defending the same, the sum of thirty
pounds per annum for each Right he claims, and so pro rata for any time
he shall be absent without allowance from Capt. Marsh, John Buel and
Nathaniel Hosford, or any two of them ; and by the same rule of propor-
tion for part Rights. And if any such claimer shall neglect payment of
the said forfeiture at the time and to the Committee hereafter appointed in
this Act, the said Committee are hereby fully empowered to sell so much of
the lands in Litchfield claimed by such non-resident person, as will answer
the sum so forfeited ; and all sales and alienations made of such Lands by
the Committee, shall be good for the holding the same to the grantees and
their heirs forever. And this Assembly appoint Major Roger Wolcott,
Capt. Nathaniel Stanley, Esq., and Mr. Thomas Seymour, a Committee to
take account of all forfeitures that shall arise by force of this act, and
upon the non-payment of the same, to make sale of the Lands as aforesaid.

And it is further ordered, That all such forfeitures shall be paid to the
said Committee at the State House in Hartford, on the first Monday in
June, which will be in the year 1726; and the said Committee are to deliver
all such sum or sums as they shall receive by force of this Act, unto the
Treasurer of this Colony, taking his receipt for the same — the said Com-
mittee to make their accounts with the Assembly in October, provided never-
theless that the Right of Joseph Harris is saved from any forfeiture by
force of this Act And it is further provided, that if any such claimer
shall keep an able-bodied soldier in said Litchfield, who shall attend duty
as the Inhabitants do, such claimer shall be excused for his non-residence
during such time.

2. And it is further enacted, That all houses that are fortified in said
Town, shall be free for the use of the people and soldiers in the garrison.

3. That the Inhabitants of said Town shall be allowed five shillings and
sixpence per week for billeting soldiers.

4. That Mounts shall be built in the Forts that are already made in
said Town, at the public cost of the Colony. ...

Primf.val Oak

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 25

5. That all able-bodied young men that are dwellers in said Town and
are eighteen years old and upwards, and have no right to any Lands in.
said Town, and shall constantly reside therein until October next, and do
duty with the Inhabitants, shall be allowed three shillings per wedc out af
the Public Treasury, until October next, unless the Committee for the War
in Hartford shall order to the contrary for part of said time.

6. That every able-bodied man that is fit for service to the acceptance
of the commissioned officers, that hath a Right in said Town, and shall
constantly reside therein and do his duty according to the command of the
captain until October next, shall be allowed out of the Treasury eighteen
pence per week, unless the Committee for the War shall order to the con-
trary for part of the time".

There was another side of the matter, which affected the incon-
venience of the men drafted to help in the garrisoning of Litchfield,
as we find from another petition submitted to Governor Talcott in
May 1725:

"To the Honorable Joseph Talcott, Governor of His Majesty's Colony
of Connecticut — Whereas, When your humble Petitioners were impressed
to come up to Litchfield to keep garrison, we were encouraged by our offi-
cers to come, because it was but for a little while we should be continued
here, just till the Inhabitants could get their seed into the ground. That
business being over, and our necessity to be at home being very great, we
humbly pray your Honor to dismiss or exchange us by the beginning of
June ; whereby your Honor will greatly oblige your Humble Petitioners.

JOSEPH ROSE,
Litchfield, May 23, 1725. In behalf of the rest".

"During the summer of 1725", (Kilbourne, p. 47), "the war with
the Eastern Indians still continued, though it does not appear that
the people of Litchfield suffered in consequence, except in being kept
in a state of suspense and anxiety.

"It is not until a year later, October 1726, that the records give
indication that any immediate danger was again apprehended by
the people of this Town. At this date, 'upon news that the Indian
€nemy were coming down upon our frontier*, it was resolved 'that
there be forthwith thirty effective men raised in the towns of New
Haven and Wallingford to march to Litchfield, to be under the
direction and command of Capt. John Marsh, of Litchfield, for the
defense of said town — twenty of whom shall be raised in New
Haven, and ten in Wallingford; and that a Sargeant march with
them directly from each of said towns; and that the Major of the
County make out his orders to the Captain in said town accord-
ingly'.

"Twenty effective men were at the same time ordered immediately
to be raised in Milford, and marched to New Milford, to be under the
command of Capt Stephen Nobles, for the defence of that town. Cap-
tains John Marsh and Stephen Nobles were directed at once to *send
forth small scouts, to call and in the name of the Assembly to com-

a6 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

mand all the friendly Indians to retire to their respective towns or
plac^ where they belong, and not to be seen in the woods except
with English men'. The friendly Indians were to be employed for
the defense of the frontiers and for scouting, and were to be paid
eighteen pence per day while engaged in the latter service and
twelve pence per day for warding and keeping garrison in towns.
Five men were directed to be sent from Woodbury for the defense
of Shepaug until the danger should be over".

This was the last serious alarm caused by the Indians, but
(Kilbourne, p. 68), "Other Memorials, of a later date than those
given, complain of the difficulties which the settlers still encountered,
and asked for legislative interference in their behalf. Indeed for
more than thirty years after the Garrisons were erected, they were
resorted to with more or less frequency, by individuals and families,
on account of apprehended danger. One of these Garrisons stood
on Chestnut Hill and was remembered by Elisha Mason, who died
in Litchfield on May Ist, 1858".

OHAPTEB IV.

THE CHURCH ON THE GREEN.

The earliest records of the town of Litchfield are found in the
Becord Book of the Proprietors in Hartford and of the Town Meet-
ings in Litchfield. This old manuscript covers all the ground from
1715 to 1803. The long narrow pages are often difficult to decipher
from age and from the unusual characters of the ancient caligra-
phy. It is without doubt the most valuable and curious single
volume in our town. Through the wise forethought of our Town-
Clerk, George H. Hunt, these old pages have been faced with trans-
parent silk and strongly bound, and may be consulted by those inter-
ested at the Court House. They should be examined by all who
are curious about old Litchfield history.

The Proprietors' meetings occupy one end of the book and the
Town meetings the other. Apparently the first entry of a town
meeting is undated. "Deacon John ^uel and Nathaniel Smith were
appointed a Committee to hire a minister, and to 'make and gather
a rate* to pay him for his services among us*. This Committee
employed Mr. Timothy Collins, of Guilford, a young licentiate who
had graduated at Yale College in 1718. At the next Meeting, held
Kovember 6, 1721, it was voted, 'that Mr. Collins be forthwith called
to a settlement in this place in the work of the ministry'; and it
was stipulated that he should receive fifty-seven pounds per year for
four years, and thereafter, as follows: 'the fifth year, sixty pounds;
the sixth year, seventy pounds ; the seventh year, eighty pounds ; and
so to continue at eighty pounds per year* so long as he should remain
in the pastoral office. It was also agreed to pay him one hundred
pounds previous to the 1st day of July, 1722, and to furnish him with
firewood". (Kilboume, p. 28).

"The amount of his firewood for a series of years was by vote
to be eighty cords per annum. This provision, very liberal for the
times, was accepted by Mr. Collins on December 12, 1721 ; he entered
upon his labors, was ordained on June 19, 1723, and continued to be
the minister of the Congregational Society till the 15th of November
1752, when he was dismissed. He afterwards continued here, acting
as a Justice of the Peace, and in the practice of Medicine, and died
in 1776". (Woodruff, p. 21).

Timothy Collins is referred to ajs eccentric, but we shall never
know what his peculiarities were. On the whole he does not appear
to have been the right man to start the new colony. Dissension
arose, first over pecuniary, and then apparently over personal, mat-

28 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

ters. His salary was liberal, as Woodruff says, but doubtless Ms
expenditures were considerable also. He claimed that it was insuf-
ficient; and a long and bitter discussion arose, which lasted for the
greater part of his stay. Naturally the population did not want
higher rates, and they were already burdened with many charges.
The foundation of an Episcopal Society as early as 1745 was probably
due in part at least to disafifection with Mr. Collins. It is at least
noteworthy that in December of that year a Committee was appointed
"to eject Mr. Collins from the Parsonage Eight". The year before
this, 1744, the Town voted "not to make any rate for Mr. Collins
under present difficulties", and at the same time a Committee was
appointed to treat with him respecting his salary and "absence from
the work of the ministry". On two occasions, 1751 and in 1753,
after his withdrawal from the ministerial oflBce, charges were brought
against him before the Consociation and in Town Meeting, for
unfaithfulness in his office. Both were protested against, but the
pecuniary troubles lasted for a few years longer. Mr. Collins had
his supporters, as well as his detractors, as is shown by his subse-
quent election to various civil offices, such as Lister and Selectman;
and it should be noted that the only lawsuit brought against him
was decided in his favor. In 1755, he was appointed Surgeon of
one of the Connecticut Regiments in the Expedition against Crown
Point.

"In April 1723, the inhabitants voted to build their first Church ;
and the house was finished within three years. It was built in a
plain manner and without a steeple. Its dimensions were 45 feet

in length and 35 in breadth At the raising, all the adult males in

the whole township, being present, sate on the sills at once. In
the year 1760, the inhabitants agreed to build their second church;
and completed it in 1762. Some time after a bell was procured".
(Morris, p. 96).

As George C. Woodruff says, p. 26, it was probably in view of
the construction of the first Meeting House, that the town voted,
December 9, 1723, that "whos6ever shall sell or tranceport any pine
boards out of the Town, shall forfit ten shillings per thousand".

The first church stood in Meeting-House Street, a little to the
north of its center, and nearly opposite the northern extremity of
Town Hill Street (South Street), as it now runs.

The second church was near the same site, and was 63 feet
long and 42 feet wide. After its completion, the old church was
sold at auction in November 1762.

This second church was the most justly celebrated of any of the
two dozen or more church edifices that have been erected within our
town limits. Here were enacted the most stirring home scenes
of the Revolution; here Judah Champion preached for nearly fifty
years; and here Lyman Beecher thundered against intemperanca
Here the law students and the girls of the Litchfield Academy wor-

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD at)

shipped; here were the pews of all the distinguished families of
the town.

Inside, it was not at all a church such as we would recognise
to-day. Of it Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote: "To my childish eye,
our old meeting-house was an awe-inspiring thing. To me it
seemed fashioned very nearly on the model of Noah's Ark and Solo-
mon's Temple . . . Its double row of windows ; its doors, with great
wooden quirls over them; its belfry, projecting out at the east
[west?] end; its steeple and bell; all inspired as much sense of the
sublime in me as Strasbourg Cathedral itself; and the inside was
not a whit less imposing. How magnificent, to my eye, seemed the
turnip-like canopy that hung over the minister's head, hooked by a
long iron rod to the wall above! and how apprehensively did I con-
sider the question what would become of him if it should fall!
How^ did I wonder at the panels on either side of the pulpit, in
each of which was carved and painted a flaming red tulip, with its
leaves projecting out at right angles, and then at the grape-vine, in
bas-relief, on the front, with exactly triangular bunches of grapes
alternating at exact intervals with exactly triangular leaves. The
area of the house was divided into large square pews, boxed up
with a kind of baluster work, which I supposed to be provided for
the special accommodation of us youngsters, being the loophole of
retreat through which we gazed on the remarkabilia of the scena . . .
But the glory of our meeting-house was its singers' seat, that
empyrean of those who rejoiced in the mysterious art of fa-sol-la-ing.
There they sat in the gallery that lined three sides of the house,
treble, counter, tenor and bass, each with its appropriate leader
and supporters. There were generally seated the bloom of our
young people, sparkling, modest and blushing girls on one side,
with their ribbons and finery, making the place as blooming and
lively as a flower-garden, and fiery, forward, confident young men
on the other". (Autobiography, VoL I., p. 211).

The pews opened onto two aisles, which ran up and down the
diurch, the seats occupied the other three sides of each pew, so that
when the pews were full one-third of the congregation were seated
with their backs to the pulpit.

The first church was never heated, though individual members
of the congregation would bring their own foot-stoves in very cold
weather. No stove was introduced into the second church until
1816, when there occurred the great Stove War, about which much
has been written. Kilboume, p. 165, quotes the account of the
editor of the Hartford Courant, who claims to have been a pro-
tagonist in this famous struggle: "Violent opposition had been made
to the introduction of a stove into the old meeting-house, and an
attempt made in vain to induce the Society to purchase one. The
writer was one of seven young men who finally purchased a stove,
and requested permission to put it up in the meeting-house on trial.
After much difficulty, the Committee consented. It was all arranged
«n Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday we took our seats in the

30 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Bass, rather earlier than usual, to see the fun. It was a warm
November Sunday, in which the sun shone cheerfully and warmly
on the old south steps and into the naked windows. The stove
stood in the middle aisle, rather in front of the Tenor Gallery.
People came in and stared. Good old Deacon Trowbridge, one of
the most simple-hearted and worthy men of that generation, had
been induced to give up his opposition. He shook his head, however,
as he felt the heat reflected from it, and gathered up the skirts of
his great-coat as he passed up the broad aisle to the Deacons* Seat.
Old Uncle Noah Stone, a wealthy farmer of the West End, who sat
near, scowled and muttered at the effects of the heat, but waited
until noon, to utter his maledictions over his nut-cakes and cheese
at the intermission. There had in fact been no fire in the stove,
the day being too warm. We were too much upon the broad grin
to be very devotional, and smiled rather loudly at the funny things
we saw. But when the editor of the village paper, Mr. Bunce, came
in, who was a believer in stoves for churches, and with a most
satisfied air warmed his hands by the stove, keeping the skirts of his
great-coat carefully between his knees, we could stand it no longer,
but dropped invisible behind the breastwork. But the climax of
the whole was when Mrs. Peck went out in the midst of the service!
It was, however, the means of reconciling the whole society; for,
after that first day, we heard of no more opposition to the warm
stove in the meeting-house".

Once they became accustomed to the stove, even the opponents
to its introduction must have appreciated its warmth in the very
cold weather. The services were very long, and were continued in
the afternoons. The congregation went home for a meal between
the two services, but those from out-of-town had to rely on the
hospitality of those near the church, or on the convenience of the
Sabbath-day Houses, Sabbaday Houses, as they were colloquially
called.

"At a town meeting, December 1753, liberty was voted to Isaac
Hosford and others 'to erect a house for their convenience on Sab-
bath Days, east of the meeting-house'. In January 1759, liberty
was granted to John Farnham to 'set up a Sabbath-Day House in
the highway a little north of the School House'. Capt. Edward
Phelps erected a similar house in the middle of East Street nearly
opposite the present Congregational church; and still another was
remembered by the late Elisha Mason, which stood on the south
side of East Street, near the present Hinsdale house. , . . These
houses generally consisted of two rooms, each about twelve feet
square, with a chimney between them and a fire-place in each room;
and in such cases were erected at the expense of two or more
families. If the cold was extreme the hired man or one of the
sons might be sent forward in advance of the family, to get the
room well warmed before their arrival. The family, after filling
the ample saddle-bags with refreshments, took an early start for
the sanctuary. Calling first at their Sabbath-Day House, they

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 31

deposited their luncheon. At noon, they returned to their room,
with perhaps a few friends. The fire was re-kindled, the saddle-
bags were brought forth and their contents placed upon a prophet's
table, of which all partook. The patriarch of the household then
drew from his pocket the notes he had taken of the morning ser-
mon, which were fully reviewed, all enjoying the utmost freedom
in their remarks. All then returned to the church. Before start-
ing for home at the close of the afternoon service, they once more
repaired to their Sabbath House, gathered up the saddle-bags, saw
that the fire was left safe, and in due time all were snugly seated
in the sleigh, and bound homeward". (Kilboume, p. 74).

"The subject of seating the meeting-house often came up for
action in town meeting and produced not a little commotion. Vari-
ous standards were used in other towns to secure a fair seating list,
such as. Long public service, Dignity of descent. Rank in the Grand
List, Age, and Piety. In December 1735, a Committee was appointed
in Town Meeting to proceed as follows: 'Every man's list for four
years past shall be added together, and every man's age be reckoned
at twenty shillings per year, to be added to his list; and for them
that have not four lists, they shall be seated by the last list, or
according to the discretion of the committee'. The Committee pro-
ceeded according to these instructions, but the result did not suit.
Their doings were ordered to be set aside; on April 12, 1736, a new
committee was appointed, with no other instructions than to act
in accordance with their best judgment. Their action, for a won-
der, was acquiesced in", (Kilboume, p. 58).

"All ecclesiastical as well as school affairs were transacted in
town meeting until the year 1768. The Second Ecclesiastical Society
having been incorporated in South Farms in 1767, the First Society
met for the first time. May 9, 1768. There was little done at these
Society's meetings, from year to year, except to appoint officers,
Committees and Choristers. Now and then we find an entry of a
different character. Thus, December 1772, measures were 'taken for
coloring the meeting-house and putting up Electrical Rods'. At
the same meeting, the Society's Committee were directed 'not to let
the Town's stock of Powder and Ball to be stored in said house'."
(Kilboume, p. 173). To this Miss Esther H. Thompson (Water-
bury American, March 8, 1906) has added the following reflections:
"This measure may have been taken because some of the more con-
servative men were not quite sure whether increasing safety or
danger might be the result of the other vote to provide Electrical
Ro<l8 for the church! When we remember the comparative isola-
tion of our town and the slowness with which changes of any kind
were then effected we are surprised at the intelligence and enterprise
of our former townspeople as shown by this record of December
1772, only 20 years after Benjamin Franklin, far away in Phila-
delphia, was flying his first kite to bring down lightning from the
skies, and only 17 years after his invention of the lightning rod!
Ninety years later, when in the Avinter of 1861-2, the Third Con-

32 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

gregational church was struck by lightning it is curious that dam-
age should have been caused by a defective lightning conductor,
possibly the identical rod of heavy links that had served on the ol«i
church !"

After Mr. Collins had left the church, in February 1753, the
Town voted to call the Rev. Judah Champion, of East Haddam^ a
graduate of Yale 1751, and to offer him two thousand pounds in old
tenor money for his settlement, and a yearly salary of eight hundred
pounds, old tenor money.

Mr. Champion accepted the call, was ordained July 4, 1753, and
continued in the ministry till 1798. His salary was continued till
his decease in 1810, in his 82nd year. For the purpose of paying
the settlement of Mr. Champion, it was voted, on June 14, 1753, to
lease to him so much of the Parsonage Right as should be necessary
for that purpose, for the term of 999 years. And on January 15,
1754, a lease of the home ^ot and twenty acre division adjoining^
was given to Mr. Champion, in consideration of said settlement.
This land was known later as the glebe land, and the title is pre-
served in the name of the house owned by Mrs. W. W. Rockhill,
which is called The Glebe.

In personal appearance, Judah Champion is described as shorty
erect, with an elastic gait; hp had a frank, open countenance, that
bespoke his sincerity and fearlessness. He exercised unbounded
influence over his parish. As a preacher, he was ardent and elo-
quent, though he is said to have lacked somewhat of 'discrimination
in his theology'. This was so severe a fault in those days, that
Dr. Bellamy, the great theologian of Bethlehem, once jocosely said
that *he would like to have brother Champion made over again'.
During his pastorate, 1753 to 1798, 280 persons were added to the
church upon the profession of their faith; he officiated at 2,142
baptisms, 658 marriages, and 1,530 funerals.

The subject of the minister's salary still gave continued trouble,
owing to the fluctuating currency- Judah Champion was so uni-
versally beloved, however, that the matter was never allowed to
make the personal difficulty which it had caused with Timothy Col-
lins. In 1779, the Society, in an endeavor to stabilize his salary,
voted to pay him seventy-five pounds sixteen shillings, as a year's
salary, "in the following articles at the prices affixed. Wheat at
four shillings per bushel; Rye at three shillings; Indian Corn at
three shillings; Flax at sixpence per pound; Pork at twenty-five
shillings per hundredweight; Beef at twenty shillings per hundred-
weight; Tried Tallow at sixpence per pound; Lard at fivepence;
Oats at one shilling per bushel".

Mr. Champion's successor was the Rev. Dan Huntington, a
tutor at Yale College. He was ordained in October, 1798. "During
his ministry, a remarkable religious awakening overspread this and
the adjacent parishes, resulting in the conversion of about three
hundred persons among the different denominations of Litchfield.

rr^^U „, lib?,. Ja^Ct-nAolvn ij, Ij^y

Thf. Secoxo Cuxgr^xatioxai. Church, 1762

From a Sketcli l:v Miss M:irv Ann I.ewis

Rev. Lyman Beecher

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 33

'This town*, says Mr. Huntington, 'was originally among the num-
ber of those decidedly opposed to the movements of former revival-
ists; and went so far, in a regular church meeting called expressly
for the purpose under the ministry of Mr. Ck)llins, as to let them
know, by a unanimous vote, that they did not wish to see them.
The effect was, they did not come. The report circulated, that
Litchfield had 'voted Christ out oi their borders'. It was noticed
by some of the older people, that the death of the last person then a
member of the church, was a short time before the commencement
of our revival'." (Kilboume, p. 174).

Again the difficulties of salary arose, and finally in 1810, Mr.
Huntington decided to leave, though with much mutual regret. In
March, 1810, the Society voted a unanimous call to the Rev. Lyman
Beecher, which was accepted, and he was installed on May 30, 1810.
Litchfield was so fearful that the salary might be inadequate to a
preacher of the reputation which Lyman Beecher had already estab-
lished at East Hampton, that it awaited his arrival with some
trepidation. Happily all turned out for the best, and the sixteen
years of Beecher's pastorate were memorable ones for the town.

He has left us his own first impressions of his reception. (Auto-
biography, Vol. I., p. 185) : "I found the people of Litchfield
impatient for my arrival, and determined to be pleased, if possible,
but somewhat fearful that they shall not be able to persuade me to
stay. The house yesterday was full, and the conference in the
evening, and , so far as I have heard, the people felt as I have told
you they intended to. Had the people in New York been thus pre-
disposed, I think I should not have failed to give them satisfaction.
My health is good, and I enjoy good spirits some time past; am
treated with great attention and politeness, and am becoming
acquainted with agreeable people".

The following notice of Lyman Beecher is abbreviated from
Morgan's Connecticut as a Colony and as a State, Vol. IV., pp. 285-
286 : "... Lyman Beecher, great father of great children, who, on the
bleak Litchfield hills and in the seething discussions of Boston,
brought up his children in such fashion that they became a power
for good in their generation.

"Possibly his life did not seem to him successful; it was at
least full of struggla Descended from one of the original settlers
of New Haven, he was graduated from Y'ale in 1797, and after a
brief settlement in Easthampton, Long Island, went to Litchfield,
where he remained for sixteen years. Dr. Beecher was a preacher
of powerful sermons, rather than a writer of monumental works. . .
Removing to Boston as the pastor of the Hanover Street Church,
he encountered the Unitarian movement in its aggressive stage;
and so strong was the feeling against such rebutting influences as
his that when his church burned down, the firemen refused to put
out the fir& Again at Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, he struggled for
twenty years to found a Western institution, only to be defeated at

34 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

last by the triumpliant pro-slavery party. Here, all unknown, were
influences that were shaping the future Uncle Tom's Cabin. Dr.
Beechers sermon on Duelling at the time of Hamilton's death at
the hands of Aaron Burr, was verj' impressive; and his Views
on Theology, and Political Atheism were read with much attention,
Dying in 1863, he sleeps in New Haven, the place of his birth".

E. D. Mansfield wrote of him, (Personal Memories, p. 138) : "His
house was just across the street from Mrs. Lord's, where I boarded,
and as my window was on that side of the house I used often to
see him and hear his violin, of which he was very fond, sending
forth merry tunes. It is said that he would return from a funeral
and send forth the quickest airs from his fiddle. He was of the
most cheerful temperament. . . . He was called the 'great gun of Cal-
vinism', and it seemed to me the very irony of fate to see him tried
ten years after by the Presbytery of Cincinnati for heresy in Cal-
vlnistic Theology".

Theodore Parker once said that Lyman Beecher was the father
of more brains than any other man in America. Little can be
said here of these children, as only their childhood was spent in
Litchfield. The lives of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Ward
Beecher, Isabel Beecher Hooker, the pioneer of women's rights,
Thomas Beecher, and the rest belong elsewhere. We may at least
give an anecdote of each of the first two during their lives in Litch-
field.

It was while a pupil at Miss Pierce's Academy that Harriet
Beecher first distinguished herself in the literary line. At a public
exhibition of the school, three of the best compositions of the year
were read aloud by the teacher. "When my turn came", she wrote
in after life, "I noticed that my father, who was sitting on high by
Mr. Brace, brightened and looked interested, and at the close I
heard him ask, 'Who wrote that composition?' 'Your daughter. Sir,'
Avas the answer. It was the proudest moment of mj^ life". The
subject of this essay by so young a child is perhaps the most
remarkable part of the story. It was: 'Can the Immortality of the
Soul be proved by the light of Nature?'

Clarence Deming had many stories of the Beechers. which he
collected from David C. Bulkley and William Norton. He has
described the Henry Ward Beecher of Litchfield as a stout, florid
youngster of the stocky type, running around in short jacket, with
a fresh and rather moonish face, fair hair, pretty closely cropped
above, but with one of those curls plastered before the ear which
our ancestors used to style 'soap-locks', from the chief agent used
in their construction.

"A little way back from their school", Mr. Deming used to tell,
''was an old barn with full hay mow, where the boys played during
recess. On the crest of the mow, Henry built himself a ridge of
hay into the rough likeness of his father's pulpit. By making a
hole l)ehind it, he lowered himself so as to bring the pulpit's edge

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 35

to his chest; in some way he got hold of an immense pair of blue
goggleg. which gave him a most whimsical air. Then he would
mount his airy perch, and begin his sermon to his school mates;
he used no articulate words, but a jargon of word-sounds, with
rising and falling inflections, wonderfully mimicking those of his
father. The rotund phrasing, the sudden fall to solemnity, the
sweeping paternal gesture, the upbrushing of the hair, were all
imitated perfectly by the son. At the end of this novel service, by
way of benediction, he would take off the goggles, dash away the
front of the pulpit, double himself up and roll down the slope of
the hay mow into the midst of his merry congregation".

Harriet Beecher was born in Litchfield, June 14, 1811, and
Henry "Ward Beecher, June 24, 1813. The Beecher house was the
scene of many happy days with all the chOdren. Here too occurred
some of those famous showers, of which the minister's home was
the recipient in those generous old days. Catherine Beecher has
left us an account of one of these, in the Beecher Autobiography,
Vol. I., p. 325: "The most remarkable and unique of these (demon-
strations of the affection of his parishioners after his wife's death)
was what in Ncav England is called the minister's wood-spell, when,
by previous notice, on some bright winter day, every person in
the parish who chooses to do so sends a sled load of wood as a
present to the pastor. On this occasion Ave were previously notified
that the accustomed treat of doughnuts, and loaf-cake, cider and
flip, must be on a much larger scale than common.. . .When the
auspicious day arrived, the snow was thick, smooth, and well packed
for the occasion; the sun shone through a sharp, drj' and frosty
air; and the whole town was astir. Toward the middle of the
afternoon, runners arrived with news of the gathering of the
squadrons. Mount Tom was coming with all its farmers; Bradley-
ville also; Chestnut Hill, and the North and South settlements;
while the Town Hill gentry Avere on the qui vive to hunt up every
sled and yoke of oxen not employed by their owners. Before sun-
down the yard, and the lower rooms of our house Avere swarming
with cheerful faces. Father Avas ready with his cordial greetings,
adroit in detecting and admiring the special merits of every load as
it arrived. The kind farmers Avanted to see all the children, and
we Avere busy as bees in waiting on them. The boys heated the
flip-irons, and passed around the cider and flip, while Aunt Esther
and the daughters were busy in serAdng the doughnuts, cake and
cheese. And siich a mountainous wood-pile as rose in our yard
never before Avas seen in ministerial domains!"

In this connection Ave Avill reprint the foUoAving account of a
shower to the second minister at South Farms, from the columns
of the Litchfield Monitor, May 16, 1798. It has already been
(luoted by Elizabeth C. Barney Buel, (Mrs. John L. Buel), in her
admirable essay. The Spinning- Wheel, 1903: "On Wednesday the
second instant, A'isited at the house of the Rev. Amos Chase about
<>0 of his female friends parishioners, who made the A-ery acceptable

36 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

presentation of seventy run of Yarn to his family. In the course
of the decent and cordial socialities of the afternoon, the ladies
were entertained by their pastor with a sermon adapted to the
occasion, — from these words, Gen. XXXI. 43, 'What can I do, this
day, unto these my daughters?'"

Clarence Deming has told many anecdotes of the elder Beecher,
as well as of his children. Several have to do with two of his
chief characteristics, his absent-mindedness and his love of fishing,
and one combines both; sometimes when the hour for a week-day
service came, he would still be down on the Little Pond, a mile
away, in his boat, the Yellow Perch. Then would follow the hasty
dash up the hill behind his pastoral nag. At the end of one of
the hasty returns, it is related that a small fish dropped from his
coat tail pocket as he mounted the pulpit stairs.

Lyman Beeclier's sermons were never inferior; but they were
long, as was the wont of the day, and Mansfield has told us that
they were also sometimes dull, but always likely to become inspired
again with a fresh burst of eloquence. "The long, closely argumenta-
tive discourses of 100 years ago", says Miss Esther H. Thompson,
in the Water bury American, 1906, "while drilling the hearers to be
close listeners and deeply logical thinkers, most certainly were
wearisome. An old friend remembered the time when on warm
summer afternoons frequently men took off their coats in church
and sat in their shirt-sleeves. One of our own earliest memories
is that of a good old neighbor, who, following the custom of long
ago, often walked by to church with no coat, only a vest and the
whitest of shirt-sleeves. Farmers, wearied with the week's unceas-
ing toil, found their best clothes and cramped position on hard
seats all too trying for them easily to keep awake. As sleep
threatened to overpower them, one and another man would arise,
shake his cramped and tired legs, stretch well his arms above his head,
then fold them over the top of the pew door, while he stood for a
little time before settling down again in his seat, refreshed to endure
the remainder of the service. All was so decorously and solemnly
done, and the occurrence so common, that no one thought of smil
ing or criticising. Nor was it unusual for many a wearied woman
to take her handkerchief, a corner of her shawl, anything, to cushion
the hard rest for her head on the seat back in front of her, and
soothe eyes and brain by a change of position. The much rldi-
clued carrying of dried orange peel, 'meetin' seed' (fennel and carro-
way) to be frugally distributed among the family and munched
during service time, was almost an act of devotion, a visible struggle
to keep awake and receive the benefits of the exercises. In still
earlier times the same end was accomplished through the services
of a Tithing man, who with long pole, spiked at one end, and with
knot or squirrel tail at the other, would prick or tickle into wake
fullness the sleepy or punch into submission the disorderly. Tithing
men continued to be appointed for all the churches in town till
after 1815".

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Lyman Beecher was very much liked and admired throughout
his stay. CJoL Tallmadge, especially, was always endeavoring to
do something to give him satisfaction. In the last years of Rev.
Dan Huntington's ministry, he was instrumental in obtaining the
Christening Bowl for the church, and in 1825 he and Julius Deming
purchased the Communion service which is still in use.

With the departure of Lyman Beecher, the old Church on the
Green was taken down, and the third church erected on the site of
the present Congregational church. We have lingered on the old
churches for several reasons. In the first place their ministers,
especially Judah Champion and Lyman Beecher, were very remark-
able men; but further than this, the early Congregational church
in New England was typical of the whole population. It was
the established church, so far as there has ever been any such in our
country. The church affairs were voted upon in town meetings, the
rate to maintain the church was laid alike on all citizens until the
first steps in toleration began to be taken, and politics even found
their way into the pulpit. The North and South Consociations,
which included all the parishes in the County, were reputed to
have a great power in the nominations for local and state officials.
And finally the customs of this church were the customs of all the
people. They gave the early settlers of Litchfield much of their
character.

To quote the explanation of Arthur Goodenough, made in a like
case: in The Clergy of Litchfield County, published by the Litch-
field County University Club, 1909, p. idii, "From my own point of
view I excuse myself in part for the lack of proportion in treatment
by assuming that the Congregational ministry was a part of the
indigenous element which made Litchfield County to differ from the
rest of the world, and so to be worthy of special mention, while those
of other name represent the invasion of a cosmic influence that is
making us like other people".

The great changes which were to take place in Litchfield in the
thirties were foreshadowed by nothing more strongly than by the
passing of the church from the individual position it held in the
Green to its humbler setting on the street, where houses and stores
could command positions on an equal footing. As though loath to
go, the old spire, which had been considered unsafe, showed an
unexpected strength. Even after half of its timbers were ont and
ropes had been attached to it and carried long distances in all
directions, a line of a hundred men and boys and two yoke of oxen
could not move it at all. Then the remaining great timbers, one by
one, were sawed, till the last support was gone, and the graceful
spire trembled, tottered, then suddenly sprang forward, turning a
somersault, and fell burying its point deep in the ground close by
the large west door.

CHAPTER V.

COLONIAL DAYS.

The first meeting of the inhabitants of Litchfield for the elec-
tion of Town Officers was held on December 12, 1721, and resultet!
as follows:

John Marsh, Town Clerk.

John Buel, Nathaniel Hosford, John Marsh, Selectmen.

John Collins, (Caulkins?), Grand Jure.

William Goodrich, Constable and Collector.

Benjamin Gibbs, Thomas Lee, Surveyors.

Eleazer Strong, Samuel Root, Fence Viewers.

Daniel Culver, Hay ward.

Joseph Bird, Collector of Minister's Rate.

The only other business done at this meeting was to admit an
inhabitant, Joseph Kilbourn, of Wethersfield, who had recently pur-
chased two Rights, one-thirtieth of the whole township, from two of
the original proprietors, who had evidently been discouraged from
coming to Litchfield to take up their own Rights. It is interesting
to notice that newcomers had to be passed upon. As Woodruff has
pointed out, p. 27, "the first inhabitants were peculiarly careful
that none but persons of good character should be permitted to
settle among them. If a stranger made a purchase in the planta-
tion, a proviso was sometimes inserted in the deed, that the Inhabit-
ants should accept of the purchaser, and that he should run 'the
risk of trouble from the Grand Committee'. On the 1st of April,
1724, it was voted that 'the Commite of hartford and Windsor
Chouce Inhabitance, In Cace any new are brought into town, and
the town judg them not holsome, then to be Judged by indifrant men,
and by them Judged Good inhabitance, the cost to be paid by Litch-
field, if not the cost to be paid by the Commite that made Choice of
said Inhabitantse'."

This vote was a wise one, as it insured the growth of the settle-
ment through the accession of a fine group of pioneers. Henry
Ward Beecher bore testimony later to the character of these men,
in a passage quoted by Emily Noyes Vanderpoel, (Mrs. John A.
Vanderpoel), Chronicles of a Pioneer School, p. 29: "The early
settlers were men of broad and liberal mould, and began their
work upon this hilltop in a characteristic fashion. They laid out
their streets and staked off the village common, with such generous
breadth that they remain the delight of residents and the admira-

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 39

tion of strangers to this day. They made such liberal provision for
education and religion that the settlement soon became noted for
the excellence of its schools and the commanding influence of its
pulpit".

It is probable, as stated elsewhere, that the wide streets were
planned more for the convenience of the cattle than the delight of
the residents and strangers ; but the result to us is the sama In the
early days, the streets were considerably wider even than they now
are, as may be seen by pacing off the measurements given in a pre-
vious chapter. The hill was very swampy, from the hardpan sub-
soil, so that when the trees had been cleared alders grew up rapidly
in the streets. Part of the hill, at least, was said to be an alder
swamp even at the time of the arrival of the settlers. Just how
far this was so cannot now be determined. There is a legend that
part of the swamp, about where Crutch's Drug-Store now is, or a
little to the north, was so boggy that the line of South Street, Town
Hill Street as it was then called, was laid out to the east to avoid
it, so that North Street and South Street to-day are not a continu-
ous line. There is another tale of a very large oak, somewhere in
the area of our present Center Park, so beautiful, that the settlers
laid out North Street, Town Street as they called it, to the west, to
avoid having to cut it. Neither of these stories is entirely con-
vincing. The line of the streets at first had no resemblance what-
soever to their course at the present day. Their width was so
broad, that the present Library Building would have encroached
materially into the theoretical roadway. Through this wide
expanse of alders and grass and hummocks wound along at first
nothing more than a footpath, then came a variety of footpaths, one
on either side of the tract and others crossing it where convenient.
Gradually regular roads were developed, not much more than wheel
tracks going up and down the tract, with a wide green belt of grass
between. This double driveway extended along both North and
South Streets, it is said, while oddly enough, on East and West
Streets, which then constituted Meeting House Street and which
to-day is divided by the parks into two streets, one by the stores
and one bj the County House, was then just one Street, running
past the Meeting House, the School House and later the Court
House. The story of the big oak is further rendered improbable by
the settlers' hard struggles with the forest in general. Their only
use for trees was to cut them down. The probable explanation of
the discontinuity of the two streets running north and south is
simi)ly that it was most convenient to follow the natural crest of
the hill in a more or less winding fashion, and that when later on
the actual driveway was straightened out it would not adjust itself
into one continuous line. As the line was broken anyway by the
buildings then in the Green, this did not matter very much at the
time.

It is difficult to think of our beautiful streets as still so unkempt
in the period of the Kevolution, that little Mary Pierce, a younger

40 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

half-sister of Miss Pierce who kept the Academy, got lost in the
alder bushes when sent across the street on an errand to a neigh-
bor's house.

The streets have been narrowed from their great early width
by repeated town votes, granting strips of land to the abutting
house-owners for the purposes of front yards. The earliest houses
were built right on the road. As new strips of land have been
given up by the town some of the newer houses have been built out
onto this sometimes restricted land. A case in point is the house
now owned by Miss Thurston on North Street. When this property
was last transferred, it was found that a part of the dwelling was
on restricted land, so that the town could have insisted on its being
moved back. The matter was, however, arranged more simply by
a release of the restriction.

The widest of all the streets was the present Gallows Lane,
which was then called Middle Street and as we have seen was laid
out 28 rods wide. The present name was not given until after
May 8, 1780, when Barnet Davenport, a young man from Washing-
ton, who had committed several murders, was executed there.

Boads outside of the immediate center were also laid out gradu-
ally, though it would appear that there was no established con-
nection for two years between what really constituted two separate
settlements, one on Litchfield Hill and one on Chestnut Hill. On
December 26, 1722, it was voted to lay out a highway from Bantam
River to the Chestnut Hill home lots, "in the range where the foot-
path now is". This vote was so popular that another town meet-
ing was held the next day, December 27, 1722, at which it was voted
"to lay out a highway from John Marsh's home lot to the south
bounds; and the highway by Mr. Collins house to be continued to
the north bounds; and the highway running east to be extended
to the east bounds; and west, or south-west, from Thomas Pier's,
according to the best skill of the Committee; and the highway run-
ning north from Pier's, to be continued to the north bounds".

The holding of town meetings on two consecutive days, as in
the case just mentioned, was due sometimes to the rule requiring
the adjournment of these meetings at the coming of evening, "No
act of the town should stand in force", so ran the vote, "that was
passed after day-light failed to record it". This regulation lasted
for a long time; the only reference found to its abrogation is at a
Town meeting of January 3, 1782, when it was voted that "the
Selectmen bring in candles so that further business may be done
this evening".

Sometimes the convenience found in this singular regulation has
a slightly ironical flavor, as when, on April 14, 1731, it was "Voted,
after dark, that Mr. Collins have the choice of pews for himself and
family". Taking into account the many difficulties encountered in
seating the meeting-house and the debatable popularity of Timothy

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 41

Collins, it looks as though the meeting was reserving to itself a
loophole of escape if the minister took an advantage of this vote
which was not to the general liking!

Many of these early votes are quaint to our eyes. Sometimes
the spelling appears grotesque to us: "Voted to ajurn this meeting
to to morah Sun half an hour High at Night"; "Voted that ye owners
of schoolers sent to school for time to come shal find fire wood for
ye schooll". Sometimes it is the character of the business trans-
acted that constitutes the quaintness: "Voted liberty to Mr. Collins,
to erect a Blacksmith's Shop joining to his fence the backside of the
meeting-house"; "Voted that James Morris and Nathaniel (Joodwin
be added to the Nuisance Committee"; "Voted a Committee to
assist the Clerk in perusing the town votes and to conclude what
shall be transcribed into the town book, and what not"; "Voted
unanimously to grant permission for the Small Pox to be com-
municated and carried on by Innoculation on Gillets Folly so called,
it being a Peninsula or neck of land belonging to Stephen Baldwin
in the Northern part of the Great Pond".

This last vote is from the town meeting of March 11, 1783, and
takes us back to the terrible Small-pox scare that passed over the
whole country during and at the close of the Revolution. For a
time the columns of the Monitor were filled with notices of physici-
ans offering to inoculate in different parts of the county, though it
would appear that the practise of inoculation in our town was care-
fully restricted and supervised during the whole period of twenty
years that Pest-houses were continued.

Several applications for new establishments, if they deserved
so high-sounding a name, are found in the votes of the Town.

April 7, 1783: "A Petition of sundry Inhabitants of South
Farms praying for Liberty to set up Inoculation for the Small Pox
on Marsh's Point being read and considered was negatived".

October 15, 1798: "Uriah Tracy was chosen Moderator. At
which Meeting there was a written request exhibited by several
Gentlemen of said Town of Litchfield, praying for the establish-
ment of two or more Pest Houses in the Western part of the said
Town for the greater convenience of inoculation to the people resid-
ing in the Western part of the South Farms Society and so in the
Society of Milton. Voted not to add to the number of Houses
already assigned by said Town for said purpose".

The most elaborate description in the records of the conduct
of these houses is contained in another vote, which may be quoted
at some length, as showing the nature of such an early Hospital,
and the fear of contagion which surrounded it:

March 20, 1797: "Voted that permission be, and the same is,
hereby granted to the civil Authority and Selectmen of the Town
to give liberty for the Small Pox to be communicated by inoculation
at the house of Daniel Lord, standing on Chestnut Hill, purchased
by him of the heirs of Michael Dickinson, also the house of Ros-

42 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

well Harrison, lately the property of Thomas Harrison: Places in
the Town and at no other Place; and the Hospitals so to be opened
shall be governed by the following rules and regulations and such
others as the Civil Authorities and the Selectmen shall from time
to time adopt, to wit:

"First, that limits be proscribed over which the Person infected
shall not be suffered to go.

"Second, that the limits thus proscribed do not extend within
forty rods of any public road except those necessary to be improved
for said Purpose on which signals shall be placed at least the afore-
said number of rods from each side of said Hospital by which Per-
sons may acquaint themselves of the Business.

"Third, that Captain William Bull and James Morris, Esqr.,
be and the same are hereby appointed Overseers to appoint or
approve of the Nurses or Tenders necessary to be employed, to give
orders respecting the Time the Persons infected, their Nurses and
Tenders, shall continue in the aforesaid Hospital, and also respect-
ing their changing and coming out, and such other order and direc-
tion as shall be judged most expedient (for) preserving the inhabit-
ants from taking the Infection, for which service a recompense shall
be paid by those concerned.

"Fourth, that no Person thus infected be suffered to depart with-
out first obtaining from said Committee or some Physician by them
appointed a Certificate giving his or their Approbation.

"Fifth, and that each Person before inoculation do procure good
and sufficient Bonds to answer the Penalty of the Statute in such
case made and provided: that he or they will strictly comply with
all and singular the foregoing Rules and Regulations and such
others as the Civil Authority and Selectmen shall adopt, which
Bonds shall be taken by the aforesaid Overseers.

"Sixth, that the several Physicians shall also procure Bonds for
security against spreading the infection through their means and
not to inoculate anyone who shall not procure a Certificate from
one or more said Overseers.

"Seventh, that the Nurses and Tenders shall also procure Bonds
not to admit any Person in said Hospital without the consent of the
Overseers and to use all due attention to prevent the spreading the
same through their means or neglect".

We have no record of any casualties in Litchfield from the
Inoculation, fortunately, but may of the people were infected. The
beautiful and sprightly Mariann Wolcott, about whom we shall
write more presently, was one of these, as we learn from a letter from
her father, Gov. Oliver Wolcott Sr., to Mrs. Wolcott, March 22,
1777: "I have this instant rec'd a Letter from Dr. Smith, of the 12th.
wherein he tells me that you and the children have been inoculated
for the Small Pox, and that he apprehended you was so far thro'
it as to be out of Danger, casualties excepted, — News which is very
agreeable to me, as I have for some time been much concerned lest
you should take the infection of that distressing Disease unpre-

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 43

pared. I perceive that Mariana has had it bad; he writes, 'very
hard'. I am heartily sorry for what the little child has suffered
and very much want to see her. If she has by this lost some of her
Beauty, which I hope she has not, yet I well know she might spare
much of it and still retain as much as most of her sex possess". •
(Wolcott Memorial, p. 168).

In another letter from Dr. Reuben Smith to Oliver Wolcott Sr.,
dated April 17, 1777, is preserved an account of the origin of the
scare:

"Some soldiers having brought home the small pox, I found a
number had ventured upon innoculation without making proper pro-
vision that it might not spread in the town. The people were much
divided; some warmly engaged for innoculation, others as warmly
opposed. Unhappily for me, I was chosen one of the Selectmen this
year and was therefore under a necessity of interposing in the
matter; and thought best, as it was against law, neither to encour-
age or oppose, but endeavor to bring it under a proper regulation,
in which, however, I failed of the wished for success, our counsels
being very much divided. Several having taken in the natural
way from those that were inoculated. Captain Marsh was engaged
to crush innoculation wholly ; and some people have been so unreason-
able as to say Mr. Strong was both for and against it. Be that as
it may, it served as a game. Both had like to have been losers."
No accurate record has been preserved as to who was the last
survivor of the original settlers of Litchfield. Supply Strong, the
father of Jedediah Strong, lived to the age of 90, and died in 1786;
but it is possible that others lived to a later date. Among the
children whom the settlers brought with them into the wilderness,
should be mentioned Zebulon Gibbs, who was only nine years old
when his father, Benjamin Gibbs, came to Litchfield in 1720. He
died in 1803, at the ripe age of 92 years. It so happened
that the first male child born in the settlement was his younger
brother, Gershom Gibbs, born July 28, 1721. We recognize in the
latter's name the old Puritan knowledge of the Bible; for in Exodus,
11.22, it is written: "And she bare (Moses) a son, and he called
his name Gershom : for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange
land". In the Revolution, Gershom Gibbs, was taken a prisoner
by the English at Fort Washington, and died in prison. The first
white child born in Litchfield was Eunice, the daughter of Jacob
Griswold; she was born on March 21, 1721, and was afterwards the
wife of Captain Solomon Buel.

Certainly the two most prominent of this gallant band of men
were John Marsh and John Buel, of whom we will quote the follow-
ing accounts from Kilbourne, p. 70:

".John Marsh had long been a prominent citizen of Hartford
before he interested himself in the Western Lands; and from the
time when he came out to 'view the new plantation' in May, 1715,
till about the year 1738, his name was intimately associated with

44 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

the history of Litchfield. He served this town in the various
offices within her gift during the entire period of his residence here.
While an inhabitant of Hartford, he was often a Representative in
the Legislature, a Justice of the Peace, an Associate Judge of the
County Court, and a member of the Council of War. He returned
to Hartford from Litchfield in his old age, and died there. He was
interred in the old Burying Ground back of the Center Church. His
children remained in this town, and his descendants here and else-
where are very numerous.

"John Buel was about fifty years of age when he became a
resident of this town, and had previously filled the office of Deacon
of the church in Lebanon. He was repeatedly elected to almost every
office within the gift of his fellow citizens, besides being appointed
on nearly all the most important Committees. As a Deacon in the
Church, Captain of the Militia, Selectman, Treasurer, Representa-
tive, and Justice of the Peace, he discharged his duties efficiently and
faithfully. A brief anecdote, as given by Mr. Powers, in his Cen-
tennial Address at Goshen, will serve to illustrate the benevolence
of his character: In the winter of 1740-41, a man came from Com
wall to purchase some grain for himself and family, who were in
great need, and was directed to Deacon Buel. The stranger soon
called, and made known his errand. The Deacon asked him if he
liad the money to pay for the grain. He answered affirmatively.
"Weir, said the Deacon. 'I can show you where you can procure it'.
Going with the stranger to the door, he pointed out a certain house
to him saying, 'There lives a man who will let you have grain for
your money. I have some to spare, but I must keep it for those
who have no money'. Deacon Buel died April 6, 1746, aged 75 years.
His wife survived him 22 years. Both were interred in the West
Burying Gi'ound".

These two leaders of Litchfield were associated in every move-
ment for the progress of the town. On the 6th of February 1722, the
use of the stream of Bantam River and thirty acres of land was
voted to them, on condition that they would erect a Grist Mill and
keep the same in order. And it was they again who were directed
to petition the General Assembly the same year "for liberty to set
up a church and society in Litchfield".

They were also among those appointed to negotiate a settlement
of the Iwundary line between Litchfield and Waterbury. The sev-
eral boundaries of the township continued to be a cause of dispute
for over fifty years, but as the bounds as finally adjusted appear to
be satisfactory to-day, and wholly a matter of course, it is not neces-
sary to review all the transactions that took place in detail. The
bounds on the east and west being formed by the Naugatuck and
Housantonic Rivers, there was little question as to their where-
abouts. But on the north and south, the various white oak trees
and trees with stones about them which are mentioned in the Town
Patent were naturally open to increasing variety of interpretation
as the years passed. The North line was run by Roger Sherman,

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 45

afterwards a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He lived
in New Milford, and was appointed Ck)unty Surveyor of the then new
County of Litchfield in 1754, and his manuscript account of our
northern boundary is still preserved- The determination of the
southern bounds was a more disputatious business and no one of
such distinction was involved in its settlement. After the settle-
ment of the Waterbury boundary in 1722, the Woodbury boundary
remained in dispute for some twenty years. A committee of Litch-
field men 'perambulated' this part of the wilderness in 1727 with a
committee from Woodbury. In 1728, two Agents were chosen to
act in the 'controversy'. In 1731, they were re-appointed to enquire
"what light can be had concerning our line". Taxes were laid in
the same year and again in 1742, to defray the expenses involved in
all this perambulating and searching. As no one could know
where such a line did run, there never having been any carefully
defined line anyway, the matter dragged on, and apparently adjusted
itself in the end, for no definite record of the settlement has sur-
vived, though the line is now happily established somehow. When
Old Judea was set off from the town of Woodbury in 1779, under its
present name of Washington, the boundary came up once more, the
inhabitants of the new township arbitrarily changing the line in
their petition for an incorporation so as to include Avithin their
limits all of Davies' Hollow and the adjoining sections of Mount
Tom. At first the Litchflelders, in great excitement, resolved to
defend their claim before the General Assembly, appointing Andrew
Adams to appear for them. Finally, perhaps because of the strong
Episcopalian sentiment in that region, which was not considered any
too desirable at a period when the Church of England and the
tories were always linked together, it was decided not to oppose
the change in the line, and Colonel Adams was again appointe<l.
this time to appear before the General Assembly with a petition
that Washington be allowed to "regulate the line of the town" iu
its own way.

The boundaries of South Farms were established and definetl
in 1767; those of Northfield in 1794; and those of Milton in 1795,
when each of those separate parishes was organized. Much later,
in 1859, South Farms was set off as a distinct township under the
name of Morris.

"It is an interesting fact", (Kilbourne, p. 61), "that the town
of Goshen was organized at the house of Deacon John Buel in West
Street. On September 27, 1738, the proprietors of Goshen, then
called New^ Bantam, met there, and again on the following day,
when the organization of the town was completed. Dating from
this day, the Centennial anniversary of Goshen was celebrated on
September 28, 1838, on which occasion an interesting historical
discourse was delivered by the Rev. Grant Powers. Several of
the original proprietors of Goshen were residents of Litchfield". A
fuller account of the meetings held in Deacon Buel's house is givou
in Rev. A. G. Hibbard's History of Goshen, 1897, pp. 31-35.

46 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Kivalry between Woodbury and Litchfield again developed in
connection with the establishment of the new County, and this time
Goshen was also a rival, not to speak of Canaan and Cornwall.
The rivalry was over the location of the County Seat, which was
established finally in Litchfield, and the County was called Litch-
field County. Woodbury had of course no chance to be made the
County Seat, because of its remote position, but it took the oppor-
tunity to try to organize a separate County, or to be re-annexed to
Fairfield County. These and later attempts of the same kind were
not successful. The claims of Goshen to be the County Seat were
much more considerable, chiefly because of its central position in
the territory. Several families who were coming into these parts
at that time moved to Goshen in the expectation that its claims to
leadership would be successful; among those who did so, and who
came to Litchfield when, in 1751, the matter was finally decided,
was Oliver Wolcott, who was appointed the first High Sheriff, The
County Treasurer was John Catlin; the County Clerk was Isaac
Baldwin; one of the Associate Judges was Ebenezer Marsh; all of
Litchfield; the remaining County officers and Judges were from
other parts of the County.

The formation of the County was a most important event for
the prosperity of Litchfield; legally, commercially, socially, and
indirectly educationally, much of the success and prestige of Litch-
field dates from this time. All the Courts for the County met in
Litchfield, including the Supreme Court of Errors, and the Superior
and County Courts. These Courts all continued to meet in Litch-
field and not elsewhere in the County until 1873, In that year
thirteen of the towns in the County, but not including Litchfield,
were constituted a Judicial District, known as the District Court
for the First District of Litchfield, with sessions at Winchester
(the Courts sitting at Winsted), Canaan (the Courts sitting at
Falls Village), and New Milford. This Court was abolished in
1883 and the Court of Common Pleas for Litchfield County consti-
tuted with, sessions at Litchfield and the three towns just named.
In 1881 the District Court of Waterbury was given jurisdiction
over several towns in this County. In the same year Litchfield
County was included with Hartford, Tolland, Middlesex and Wind-
ham Counties in the first judicial District of the Supreme Court
of Errors with sessions only at Hartford. In 1897 an act was
passed providing for sessions of the Superior Court at Litchfield.
New Milford and Winchester. These changes have greatly reduced
the importance of Litchfield as a judicial center in the last fifty
years.

The importance which the formation of the new County gave
to Litchfield led to a singular contrast, for we find Litchfield in
the position of a County Seat, with its courts and other business,
yet with no newspaper, no mail-service, no means for passenger
travel !

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 47

It was a life that centered witliin itself to a degree that we
cim with difficulty picture to-day. The condition of the roads, so
far as there were any roads, prevented travel except on horseback,
save when the snow made sleighing a possibility. Kilboume says,
p. 166; 'Horses were trained to carry double; and it was not an
uncommon thing to see father, mother and at least one child mounted
on the same horse. Long journeys were sometimes taken with this
triple load. For years after the Old Forge, in the western part of
the town, was erected, the ore for its use was brought from the iron-
mines of Kent in bags slung across the backs of horses; and the
bar-iron manufactured there, was bent in the form of ox-bows and
carried to market on horseback. Ox-carts and ox-sleds were com-
mon, and journeys of hundreds of miles were not infrequently made
in these tedious vehicles. Many of the ambitious and hardy young
men of this town, who emigrated to Vermont, to the Genesee Country,
and to New Connecticut, went on foot, each carrying a pack, in
which was enclosed, as an indispensable part of his outfit, a new
nxo. Some who thus went, became men of wealth and distinction.

"There was no public conveyance between Litchfield and the
neighboring or more remote towns, for a period of nearly seventy
years after the settlement of the place commenced. As early as
1766, it is true, William Stanton was a post-rider between Litch-
field and Hartford; but as it is said that his journeys were per-
formed on horseback, the inference is that he did not make a practice
of carrying passengers! Indeed, during the Revolution, all regular
communication between the interior towns was suspended, even
where it had before existed; but expresses were sent hither and
tliither, as the exigencies of the hour might demand. Litchfield
Avas on the great inland route from Boston to New York, as well
as on that from Hartford to Westpoint, so that the travel through
the tow^n was very great.

"Tlie establishment of a weekly paper in this village, in 1784,
sseemed to call for some method of obtaining and circulating the
news. Tliere was not a Post-Office or a Mail Koute in the County
of Litchfield; and how the subscribers contrived to get their papers
may well be regarded as a mystery by the publishers of our day.
In 1789, Jehiel Saxton, a post-rider between New Haven and Lenox,
passed through this town on his route, at stated intervals. In
1790. another of this interesting class of primitive k-tter-carriers and
errand-men, commenced his long and lonely rides over the almost
interminable succession of hills, between the Litchfield Court-House
and the city of New York, leaving each place once a fortnight. That
was a proud day for Litchfield — perhaps for New Y'ork also!"
(Kilbourne, p. 167).

It is readily conceived that in such a state of isolation, the early
settlers of Litchfield were more immediately concerned with laying
out the Little Plain, where the West Cemetery now is. and with
draining the adjacent swamps along the river into four acre meadows
for the use of those who M^ere working up their herds, than with the

48 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

great concerns of the outer world. Kilbourne notes that the First
French War, 1744-1748, came and went without leaving a trace on
our minute book of the town meetings. The matter of the new
County, which was just then coming up, was a business of vastly
greater importance to the town than how a war which was in pro-
gress at such a distance should be decided.

When the Last French War, 1755-1763, began, Litchfield had
developed so rapidly as to be ready to do its share from the begin-
ning. At the start of the war, Connecticut raised a force of a
thousand men, and this was gradually increased to five thousand,
which was maintained through all the campaigns. Unfortunately,
but a single list of the soldiers raised in Litchfield during this
period has been preserved, and many of the names on it are of men
who came to Litchfield to enlist. This is the pay-roll for Capt.
Archibald McNeile's Company, in the second regiment of Connecti-
cut Forces, for the year 1762, which is on file in the office of tht^
Secretary at Hartford. This list is reprinted in the Appendix.
Some of the officers who i*eceived commissions in these years were
undoubtedly at the War, but it is no longer possible to say which
ones. The list of these is as follows:

1756: Captain Solomon Buel;

1757: Colonel Ebenezer Marsh; Captain Isaac Baldwin; Lieu-
tenant Joshua Smith; Ensign Abner Baldwin;

1758: Ensign Zebulon Qibbs; Captain Archibald McNeile;

1760: Lieutenant Stephen Smith; Lieutenant Eli Catlin;

1761: Lieutenant Isaac Moss; Lieutenant Josiah Smith; Lieu
tenant Asa Hopkins; Ensign Gideon Harrison; Ensign David Lan
don;

1762: Ensign Lynde Lord.

We also know that Timothy Collins was Surgeon of one of the
Connecticut Raiments at the battle of Crown Point. The only nar-
rative of service is the very laconic one made by Zebulon Gibbs:
•'I was active in the French War in the year 1756 till the year 1762.
I was conductor of teams and horses, by which means I obtained
the title of Captain".

The names of the more prominent settlers and those of the men
of action in the wars of the time will not, however, paint for us a
true or complete picture of those early days. More than any other
period that has followed it was a time whose real character was
typified in those who were not men and women, as we say, of action.
In his Centennial Sermon in 1851, the Rev. Horace Bushnell pointed
this out in what is really an address describing the life of the
times, which for beauty of style, not less than for truth of obser-
vation and dignity of thought, is probably the finest address that
has been delivered at any time in our town. The changing fashions,
if the word can be used of Sermons, have not made The Age of
Homespun one whit less striking than it was the morning the

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

great Divine delivered it. Tlie same humanizing influence whicli he
brought to his interpretation of the old Calvinistic theology and
which made his preaching appear so advanced to the Hartford of
eighty years ago will be found in his kindly, yet always just, analy-
sis, of Colonial life as it existed in our town and those like it. The
address is better history than the Historical Address delivered the
preceding day; it is better history than ever we can hope to write
in this book; and in reprinting it herewith we can only regret that
it has been necessary somewhat to abbreviate it. The Sermon in
full will be found on pages 107-130 of the Centennial Book published
in the same year, 1851.

CHAPTER VI.

THE AGE OF HOMESPUN.
BY HORiVCE BUSHNELX,.

[Extracts from a discourse, delivered at Litchfield, on the occasion
of the County Centennial Celebration, 1851.1

It has often occurred to others, I presume, as to me, to wish that,
for once, it were possible, in some of our historic celebrations, to
gather up the unwritten part, also, of the history celebrated; thus
to make some fit account, of the private virtues and unrecorded
struggles, in whose silent commonalty, we doubt not, are includefl
all the deepest possibilities of social advancement and historic dis-
tinction I think you will agree with me, that nothing is more

appropriate than to offer some fit remembrance of that which heaven
only keeps in charge, the unhistoric deeds of common life, and the
silent, undistinguished good whose names are Avritten only ^n
heaven. In this view, I propose a discourse on the words of King
Lemuel's mother: —

PROA^ 31: 28. "Her children rise up and call her blessed".

This Lemuel, who is called a King, is supposed by some to
have been a Chaldee chief, or head of a clan; a kind of Arcadian
prince, like Job and Jethro. And this last chapter of the Proverbs
is an Eastern poem, called a "prophecy", that versifies, in form, the
advice which his honored and Avise mother gave to her son. She
dwells, in particular, on the ideal picture of a fine woman, such as
he may fitly seek for his wife, or queen; drawing the picture, doubt-
less, in great part, from herself and her own practical character.
"She layeth her hands to the spindle and her hands hold the distaff.
She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her hoiise-
hold are covered with scarlet. Her husband is known in the gates,
Avhen he sitteth among the elders of the land. She openeth her
mouth in wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She
looketh well to the ways of her household, and eatetli not the bread
of idleness". Omitting other points of the picture, she is a frugal,
faithful, pious housewife; clothing her family in garments prepared
by her industry, and the more beautiful honors of a well-kept, well-
mannered house. She, therefore, it is, who makes the center of a
happy domestic life, and becomes a mark of reverence to her
children: — "Her children rise up and called her blessed".

A very homely and rather common picture, some of you may
fancy, for a queen, or chief woman; but, as you view the subject
more historically, it will become a picture even of dignity and

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 51

polite culture. The rudest and most primitive stage of society
has its most remarkable distinction in the dress of skins; as in
ancient Scythia, and in many other parts of the world, even at the
present day. The preparing of fabrics, by spinning and weaving,
marks a great social transition, or advance; one that was slowly
made and is not even yet absolutely perfected. Accordingly, the
art of spinning and weaving was, for long ages, looked upon aa a
kind of polite distinction; much as needle work is now. Thus,
when Moses directed in the preparation of curtains for the Taber-
nacle, we are told that "all the women that were wise-hearted did
spin with their hands". That is, that the accomplished ladies who
understood this fine art, (as few of the women did), executed his
order. Accordingly, it is represented that the most distinguished
queens of the ancient time excelled in the art of spinning; and the
poets sing of distaffs and looms, as the choicest symbols of princely
women- If I rightly remember, it is even said of Augustus, him-
self, at the height of the Roman splendor, that he wore a robe that
was made for him by Livia, his wife.

You perceive, in this manner, that Lemuel's mother has any but
rustic ideas of what a wife should be. She describes, in fact, a
lady of the highest af^^^omplishments, whose harpsichord is the distaff,
whose piano is the loom, and Avho is able thus, by the fine art she
is mistress of, to make her husband conspicuous among the elders
of the land. Still, you will understand that what we call the old
spinning-wheel, a great factor^' improvement, was not inventefl till
long ages after this ; being, in fact, a comparatively modern, I believe
a German or Saxon, improvement. The distaff, in the times of
my text, was held in one hand or under one arm, and the spindle,
hanging by the thread, Avas occasionally hit and twirled by the other.
The weaving process was equally rude and simple.

These references to the domestic economy of the more ancient
times, have started recollections, doubtless, in many of you, that
are characteristic, in a similar way, of our own primitive historj.
You have remembered the wheel and the loom. You have recalled
the fact, that our Litchfield County people down to a period com-
paratively recent, have been a people clothed in homespun fabrics —
not wholly, or in all cases, but so generally that the exceptions may
be fairly disregarded. In this fact I find my subject. As it is
sometimes said that the history of iron is the history of the world,
or the history of roads a true record, always, of commercial and
social progress, so it has occurred to me that I may give the most
effective* and truest impression of Litchfield County, and especially
of the unhistoric causes included in a true estimate of the century
now passed, under this article of homespun; describing this first
century as the Homespun Age of our people. The subject is homely,
as it should be; but I think we shall find enough of dignity in it
as we proceed, even to content our highest ambition; the more, that
I do not propose to confine myself rigidly to the single matter of
spinning and weaAung. but to gather round this feature of domestic

52 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

life, taken as a symbol, or central type of expression, whatever is
most characteristic in the living picture of the times we commemo-
rate, and the simple, godly virtues, we delight to honor.

What we call History, considered as giving a record of notable
events, or transactions, under names and dates, and so a really
just and true exhibition of the causes that construct a social state,
I conceive to be commonly very much of a fiction. True worth is,
for the most part, unhistoric, and so of all the beneficent causes and
powers included in the lives of simple worthy men: causes most
efficient, as regards the well-being and public name of communities.
They are such as flow in silence, like the great powers of nature.
Indeed, we say of history, and say rightly, that it is a record of
events : that is, of turnings out, points where the silence is broken
by something apparently not in the regvdar flow of common life;
just as electricity, piercing the world in its silent equilibrium, hold-
ing all atoms to their places, and quickening even the life of our
bodies, becomes historic only when it thunders; though it does noth-
ing more, in its thunder, than simply to notify us, by so great a
noise, of the breach of its connections and the disturbance of its
silent work. Besides, in our historic pictures, we are obliged to
sink particulars in generals and so to gather, under the names of a
prominent few, what is really done by nameless multitudes. These,
we say, led out the colonies ; these raised up the states and communi-
ties ; these fought the battles. And so we make a vicious inversion,
not seldom, of the truth; representing as causes, those who, after
all, are not so much causes as effects, not so much powers as instru-
ments, in the occasions signalized by their names : caps only of foam,
that roll conspicuous in the sun, lifted, still, by the deep underswell
of waters hid from the eye.

Therefore, if you ask, who made this Litchfield County of ours,
it will be no sufficient answer that you get, however instructive and
useful, when you have gathered up the names that appear in our
public records and recited the events that have found an honorable
place in the history of the County, or the Kepublic. You must not
go into the burial places, and look about only for the tall monuments
and the titled names. It is not the starred epitaphs of the Doctors
of Divinity, the Generals, the Judges, the Honorables, the Governors,
or even the village notables called Esquires, that mark the springs of
our successes and the sources of our distinction. These are rather
effects than causes; ija.e spinning wheels have done a great deal
more than these. Around the honored few, here a Bellamy, or a
Day, sleeping in the midst of his flock; here a Wolcott, or a Smith;
an Allen, or a Tracy; a Keeve, or a Gould; all names of honor:
round about these few, and others like them, are lying multitudes of
worthy men and women, under their humbler monuments, or in
graves that are hidden by the monumental green that loves to freshen
over their forgotten resting place; and in these, the humble but good
many, we are to say are the deepest, truest causes of our happy
history. Here lie the sturdy kings of Homespun, who climbed

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 53

iimong these liills, with their axes, to cut away room for their
cabins and for family prayers, and so for the good future to come.
Here lie their sons, who foddered their cattle on the snows, and built
stone fence while the corn was sprouting in the hills, getting ready,
in that way, to send a boy or two to college. Here lie the good
housewives, that made coats every year, like Hannah, for their
children's bodies, and lined their memory with catechism. Here
the millers, that took honest toll of the rye; the smiths and coopers,
that superintended two hands and got a little revenue of honest
bread and schooling from their small joint stock of two-handed
investment. Here the district committees and school mistresses;
the religious society founders and church deacons; and, withal, a
great many sensible, wise-headed men, who read a weekly newspaper,
loved George Washington and their country, and had never a thought
of going to the General Assembly! These arc the men and Avomen
who made Litchfield County. Who they are, by name, we cannot
tell: no matter Avho they are: Ave should be none the wiser if we
lould name them ; they themselves none the more honorable. Enough
that they are the King Lemuels and their Queens, of the good old
times gone by: kings and queens of Homespun, out of whom we
draw our royal lineage.

I have spoken of the great advance in human society, indicated
by a transition from the dress of skins to that of cloth — an advance
of so great dignity, that spinning and weaving were looked upon as
a kind of fine art, or polite accomplishment. Another advance,
and one that is equally remarkable, is indicated by the transition
from a dress of homespun to a dress of factory cloths, produced by
machinery and obtained by the exchanges of commerce, at home or
abroad. This transition we are now making, or rather, I should
say, it is already so far made that the very terms, "domestic manu-
factiire", have quite lost their meaning; being applied to that which
is neither domestic, as being made in the house, nor manufacture,
as being made by the hands. This transition from mother and
daughter poAver to Avater and steam poAA^er is a great one, greater
by far than many have as yet begun to conceive: one that is to
carry Avith it a complete revolution of domestic life and social man-
ners. If, in this transition, there is something to regret, there is
more, I trust, to desire. If it carries aAvay the old simplicity, it
must also open higher possibilities of culture and social ornament.
The principle danger is, that, in removing the rough necessities of
the homespun age, it may take away, also, the severe virtues and the
homely but deep and true piety by which, in their blessed fruits,
as we are all here testifying, that age is so honorably distinguished.
Be the issue AA-hat it may, good or bad, hopeful or unhopefid, it has
come; it is already a fact, and the consequences must follow.

If our sons and daughters should assemble, a hundred years
hence, to hold another celebration like this, they will scarcely be
able to imagine the Arcadian pictures now so fresh in the memory
of so many of us, though to the younger part already matters of

54 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

hearsay more than of personal knowledge or remembrance. Every-
thing that was most distinctive of the old homespun mode of life
will then have passed away. JThe spinning wheels of wool and
flax, that used to buzz so familiarly in the childish ears of some
of us, will be heard no more for ever: seen no more, in fact, save
in the halls of the Antiquarian Societies, where the delicate daugh-
ters will be asking, what these strange machines are, and how they
were made to go? The huge, hewn-timber looms, that used to
occupy a room by themselves, in the farm houses, will be gone, cut
up for cord wood, and their heavy thwack, beating up the woof,
will be heard no more by the passer by; not even the Antiquarian
Halls will find room to harbor a specimen. The long strips of
linen, bleaching on the grass, and tended by a sturdy maiden,
sprinkling them each hour from her water-can, under a broiling
sun, thus to prepare the Sunday linen for her brothers and her own
wedding outfit, will have disappeared, save as they return to fill a
picture in some novel or ballad of the old time. The tables will
be spread with some cunning, water-power Silesia not yet invented,
or perchance some meaner fabric from the cotton mills. The heavy
Sunday coats, that grew on sheep individually remembered, more
comfortably carried in warm weather on the arm, and the specially
fine-striped, blue and white pantaloons, of linen just from the loom,
will no longer be conspicuous in processions of footmen going to
meeting, but will have given place to showy carriages, filled with
gentlemen with broadcloth, festooned with chains of California
gold, and delicate ladies holding perfumed sun shades. The churches
too, that used to be simple brown meeting houses, covered with
rived clapboards of oak, will have come down, mostly, from the
bleak hill tops, into the close villages and populous towns, that
crowd the waterfalls and the railroads; and the old burial places,
where the fathers sleep, will be left to their lonely altitude: token,
shall we say, of an age that lived as much nearer to heaven and
as much less under the world. The change will be complete.
Would that we might raise some worthy monument to a state which
is then to be so far passed by, so worthy, in all future time, to be
held in all dearest reverence.

It may have seemed extravagant, or fantastic, to some of you,
that I should think to give a character of the century now past,
under the one article of homespun. It certainly is not the only, or
in itself the chief article of distinction; and yet we shall find it to
be a distinction that runs through all others, and gives a color to
the whole economy of life and character, in the times of which we
speak.

Thus, if the clothing is to be manufactured in the house, then
flax will be grown in the plowed land, and sheep will be raised in
the pasture, and the measure of the flax ground, and the number
of the flock, will correspond with the measure of the home market,
the number of the sons and daughters to be clothed, so that the
agriculture out of doors will map the family in doors. Then as

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 55

there is no thought of obtaining the articles of clothing, or dress,
by exchange; as there is little passing of money, and the habit of
exchange is feebly developed, the family will be fed on home grown
products, buckwheat, indian, rye, or whatever the soil will yield.
And as carriages are a luxury introduced only with exchanges, the
lads will be going back and forth to the mill on horseback, astride
the fresh grists, to keep the mouths in supply. The meat market
will be equally domestic, a kind of quarter-master slaughter and
supply, laid up in the cellar, at fit times in the year. The daughters
that, in factory days, would go abroad to join the female conscrip-
tion of the cotton mill, will be kept in the home factory, or in that
of some other family, and so in the retreats of domestic life. And
so it will be seen, that a form of life which includes almost every
point of economy, centers round the article of homespun dress, and
is by that determined- Given the fact that the people spin their
own dress, and you have in that fact a whole volume of characteris-
tics. They may be shepherds dwelling in tents, or they may build
them fixed habitations, but the distinction given will show them to
be a people who are not in trade, whose life centers in the family,
home-bred in their manners, primitive and simple in their character,
inflexible in their piety, hospitable without show, intelligent with-
out refinement. And so it will be seen that our homespun fathers
and mothers made a Puritan Arcadia among these hills, answering
to the picture which Polibius, himself an Arcadian, gave of his coun-
trymen, when he said that they had, "throughout Greece, a high and
honorable reputation; not only on account of their hospitality to
strangers, and their benevolence towards all men, but especially on
account of their piety towards the Divine Being".

Thus, if we speak of what, in the polite world is called societj^
our homespun age had just none of it: and perhaps the more of
society for that reason, because what they had was separate from
all the polite fictions and empty conventionalities of the world. I
speak not here of the rude and promiscuous gatherings connected
so often with low and vulgar excesses; the military trainings, the
huskings, the raisings commonly ended with a wrestling match.
These were their dissipations, and perhaps they were about as good
as any. The apple paring and quilting frolics, you may set down
if you will, as the polka dances and masquerades of homespun. If
they undertook a formal entertainment of any kind, it was com-
monly stiff and quite unsuccessful. But when some two queens of
the spindle, specially fond of each other, instead of calling back
and forth, with a card case in their hand, agreed to "join works",
as it was called, for a week or two, in spinning, enlivening their
talk by the rival buzz of their wheels and, when the two skeins were
done, spending the rest of the day in such kind of recreation as
pleased them, this to them was real society, and, so far, a good
type of all the society they had. It was the society not of the
Nominalists, but of the Kealists; society in or after work; spon-
taneously gathered for the most part, in terms of elective affinity:

56 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIFXD

toot excursions of young people, or excursions on horse back, after
the haying, to the tops of the neighboring mountains; boatings, on
the river or the lake, by moon light, filling the wooded shores and
the recesses of the hills with lively echoes ; evening schools of sacred
music, in which the music is not so much sacred as preparing to be ;
evening circles of young persons, falling together, as they imagine
by accident, round some village queen of song, and chasing away
the time in ballads and glees so much faster than they wish, that
just such another accident is like to happen soon; neighbors called
in to meet the minister and talk of both worlds together, and, if he is
limber enough to suffer it, in such happy mixtures, that both are
melted into one.

But most of all to be remembered, are those friendly circles,
gathered so often round the winter's fire: not the stove, but the fire,
the brightly blazing, hospitable fira In the early dusk, the home
circle is drawn more closely and quietly round it; but a good
neighbor and his wife drop in shortly, from over the way. and the
circle begins to spread. Next a few young folk from the other
end of the A^illage, entering in brisker mood, find as many more
chairs set in as wedges into the periphery to receive them also. And
then a friendly sleigh full of old and young, that have come down
from the hill to spend an hour or two, spread the circle again,
moving it still farther back from the fire; and the fire blazes just
as much higher and more brightly, having a new stick added for
every guest. There is no restraint, certainly no affectation of style.
They tell stories, they laugh, they sing. They are serious and gay
by turns, or the young folks go on with some play, while the fathers
and mothers are discussing some hard point of theologj' in the min-
ister's last sermon; or perhaps the great danger coming to sound
morals from the multiplication of turnpikes and newspapers!
Meantime, the good housewife brings out her choice stock of home
grown exotics, gathered from three realms, doughnuts from the
pantry, hickory nuts from the chamber, and the nicest, smoothest
apples from the cellar; all which, including, I suppose I must add,
the rather unpoetic beverage that gave its acid smack to the
ancient hospitality, are discussed as freely, with no fear of conse-
quences. And then, as the tall clock in the corner of the room
ticks on majestically towards nine, the conversation takes, it may
be, a little more serious turn, and it is suggested that a very happy
evening may fitly be ended with a prayer. Whereupon the circle
breaks up with a reverent, congratulative look on every face, which
is itself the truest language of a social nature blessed in human
fellowship.

Such, in general, was the society of the homespun age. It was
not that society that puts one in connection with the great world
of letters, or fashion, or power, raising as much the level of his
consciousness and the scale and style of his action; but it was
society back of the world, in the sacred retreats of natural feeling,
truth and piety.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 57

Descending from the topic of society in general to one more deli-
cate, that of marriage and the tender passion and the domestic felici-
ties of the homespun age, the main distinction here to be noted is,
that marriages were commonly contracted at a much earlier period
in Vifi.' than now. Not because the habit or the time was more
romantic or less prudential, but because a principal more primi-
tive and closer to the beautiful simplicity of nature is yet in vogue,
namely, that women are given by the Almighty, not so much to
lielp their husbands spend a living, as to help them get one. Accord-
ingly, the ministers were always very emphatic, as I remember, in
their marriage cermonies, on the ancient idea, that the woman was
given to the man to be a help, meet for him. . . . What more beauti-
ful embodiment is there, on this earth, of true sentiment, than the
young wife who has given herself to a man in his weakness, to make
him strong; to enter into the hard battle of his life and bear the
brunt of it with him; to go down with him in disaster, if he fails,
nud cling to him for what he is; to rise with him, if he rises; and
share a two-fold joy with him in the competence achieved; remem-
bering, both of them, how it grew, by little and little, and by what
methods of frugal industry it w^as nourished; having it also, not as
his, but theirs, the reward of their common perseverance, and the
token of their consolidated love. . . .

The close necessities of these more primitive days connected
many homely incidents with marriage, which, however, rather
heighten the picturesque simplicity than disparage the beauty of its
attractions. The question of the outfit, the question of ways and
means, the homely prudence pulling back the heroics of faith and
passion only to make them more heroic at last; all these you Avill
readily imagine.

I supi)Ose many of my audience may have heard of the dis-
tinguished Christian minister, still living in the embers of extreme
old age, who came to the point, not of a flight in the winter,?, >but
of marriage, and partly bj* reason of the Revolution then in pro-
gress, could find no way to obtain the necessary wedding suit.
Whereupon, the young woman's benevolent mother had some of
her sheep sheared and sewed up in blankets to keep them from perish-
ing with cold, that the much required felicity might be consummated.
But the schools, — Ave must not pass by these, if we are to form a
truthful and sufficient picture of the homespun days. The school-
master did not exactly go round the district to fit out the children's
minds with learning, as the shoe-maker often did to fit their feet
with shoes, or the tailors to measure and cut for their bodies; but,
to come as near it as possible, he boarded round (a custom not yet
gone by) , and the wood for the common fire w\as supplied in a way
equally primitive, by contribution of loads from the several families,
according to their several quantities of childhood- The children
were all clothed alike in homespun ; and the only signs of aristocracy
were, that some w^ere clean and some a degree less so, some in fine
white and striped linen, some in brown tow crash ; and, in particular,

58 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

as I remember, with a certain feeling of quality I do not like to
express, the good fathers of some testified the opinion they had
of their children by bringing fine round loads of hickory wood to
warm them, while some others, I regret to say, brought only scanty,
scraggy, ill-looking heaps of green oak, white birch, and hemlock.
Indeed, about all the bickerings of quality among the children,
centered in the quality of the wood pile. There was no complaint
in those days of the want of ventilation; for the large open fire-
place held a considerable fraction of a cord of wood, and the win-
dows took in just enough air to supply the combustion. Besides,
the bigger lads were occasionally ventilated, by being sent out to cut
wood enough to keep the fire in action. The seats were made of the
outer slabs from the saw-mill, supported by slant legs driven into^
and a proper distance through augur holes, and plained smooth on
the top by the rather tardy process of friction. But the spelling
went on bravely, and we ciphered away again and again, always
till we got through Loss and Gain. The more advanced of us too
made light work of Lindley Murray, and went on to the parsing,
finally, of the extracts from Shakespeare and Milton, till some of
us began to think we had mastered their tough sentences in a more
consequential sense of the term than was exactly true. . . .

Passing from the school to the church, or rather I should say
to the meeting house, (good translation, whether meant or not, of
what is older and more venerable than church, namely synagogue),
here again you meet the picture of a sturdy homespun worship.
Probably it stands on some hill, midway between three or four
valleys, whither the tribes go up to worship, and when the snow-
drifts are deepest go literally from strength to strength. There is
no furnace or stove, save the foot-stoves that are filled from the
fires of the neighboring houses, and brought in partly as a rather
formal compliment to the delicacy of the tender sex, and sometimes
because they are really wanted. The dress of the assembly is mostly
homespun, indicating only slight distinctions of quality in the wor-
shippers. They are seated according to age, the old king Lemuels
and their queens in the front near the pulpit, and the younger Lem-
uels farther back, enclosed in pews, sitting back to back, impounded,
all, for deep thought and spiritual digestion; only the deacons, sit-
ting close under the pulpit, by themselves, to receive, as their dis-
tinctive honor, the more perpendicular droppings of the word.
Clean round the front of the gallery is drawn a single row of choir,
headed by the key -pipe, in the center. The pulpit is overhung by
an august wooden canopy, called a sounding board: study general
of course and first lesson of mystery to the eyes of the children,
until what time their ears are opened to understand the spoken
mysteries.

There is no affectation of seriousness in the assembly, no manner-
ism of worship ; some would say too little of the manner of worship.
They think of nothing in fact save what meets their intelligence and
enters into them by that method. They appear like men who have

Rkv. Truman Marsh

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 59

a digestion for strong meat, and have no conception that trifles more
delicate can be of any account to feed the system. Nothing is dull
that has the matter in it, nothing long that has not exhausted the
matter. If the minister speaks in his great coat and thick gloves
or mittens, if the howling blasts of winter blow in across the assem-
bly fresh streams of ventilation that move the hair upon their
heads, they are none the less content, if only he gives them good
strong exercise. Under their hard and, as some would say, stolid faces,
great thoughts are brewing, and these keep them warm. Free will,
fixed fate, fore-knowledge absolute, trinity, redemption, special grace,
eternity: give them anything high enough, and the tough muscles
of their inward man will be climbing sturdily into it ; and if they go
away having something to think of, they have had a good dayr A
perceptible glow will kindle in their hard faces, only when some
one of the chief apostles, a Day, a Smith, or a Bellamy, has comq
to lead them up some higher pinnacle of thought, or pile upon
their sturdy mind some heavier weight of argument: fainting never
under any weight, even that which, to the foreign critics of the dis-
courses preached by them and others of their day, it seems impossi-
ble for any, the most cultivated audience in the world, to have sup-
ported. Oh, these royal men of homespun, how great a thing to
them was religion ! The district school was there, the great Bellamy
is here, among the highest peaks and solitudes of divine govern-
ment, and between is close living and hard work, and they are kings
alike in all!

True there was a rigor in their piety, a want of gentle feeling;
their Christian graces were cast-iron shapes, answering with a hard
metallic ring, but they stood the rough wear of life none the less
durably for the excessive hardness of their temperament, kept
their families and communities none the less truly, though it may
be less benignly, under the sense of God and religion. If we find
something to modify, or soften, in their over-rigid notions of Chris-
tian living, it is yet something to know that what we are they have
made us, and that, when we have done better for the ages that
come after us, we shall have a more certain right to blame their
austerities.

View them as we may, there is yet, and always will be, some-
thing magnificent, in their stern, practical fidelity to their prin-
ciples. . . .

Kegarding now, the homespun age as represented in these pic-
tures of the social and religious life, we need, in order to a full
understanding, or conception of the powers and the possibilities of
success embodied in it, to go a step farther; to descend into the
practical struggle of common life, and see how the muscle of energy
and victory is developed, under its close necessities.

The sons and daughters grew up, all, as you will perceive, in the
closest habits of industry. The keen jockey way of whittling out
a living by small bargains sharply turned, which many suppose to
be an essential characteristic of the Yankee race is yet no proper

6o THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

inbred distinction, but only a casual result, or incident, that per-
tains to the transition period between the small, stringent way of
life in the previous times of home-production, and the new age of
trade. In these olden times, these genuine days of homespun, they
supposed, in their simplicity, that thrift represented work, and
looked about seldom for any mo re. delicate or sharper way of getting
on. They did not call a man's property his fortune, but they
spoke of one or another as being worth so much; conceiving that he
had it laid up as the reward or fruit of his deservings. The house
Avas a factory on the farm, the farm a grower and producer for
the house. The exchanges went on briskly enough but required
neither money nor trade. No affectation of polite living, no languish-
ing airs of delicacy and softness in doors, had begun to make the
fathers and sons impatient of hard work out of doors, and set them
at contriving some easier and more plausible way of living. Their
very dress represented work, and they went out as men whom the
Avives and daughters had dressed for work; facing all weather, cold
and hot, wet and dry, wrestling with the plow on the stony-sided hills,
digging out the rocks by hard lifting and a good many very prac-
tical experiments in mechanics, dressing the flax, threshing the rye,
dragging home in the deep snows the great wood pile of the year's
consumption; and then, when the day is ended, having no loose
money to spend in taverns, taking their recreation, all together,
in reading, or singing, or happy talk, or silent looking in the fire,
and finally in sleep, to rise again, with the sun, and pray over the
family Bible for just such another good day as the last. And so they
lived, working out, each year, a little advance of thrift, just within
the line of comfort.

The picture still holds, in part, though greatly modified by the
softened manner of indoor life, and the multiplied agencies of emi-
gration, travel, trade and machinery. It is, on the whole, a hard and
over-severe picture, and yet a picture that embodies the highest
points of merit, connects the noblest results of character. Out of
it, in one view, come all the successes we commemorate on this fes-
tive occasion.

No mode of life was ever more expensive; it was life, at the
expense of labor too stringent to allow the highest culture and the
most proper enjoyment. Even the dress of it was more expensive
than we shall ever see again. Still it was a life of honesty, and
simple content, and sturdy victory. Immoralities, that rot down
the vigor and humble the consciousness of families, were as much
less frequent, as they had less thought of adventure, less to do
with travel, and trade, and money, and were closer to nature and
the simple life of home.

If they were sometime drudged by their over-iiitcr.se labor, still
they were kept by it in a generally rugged state, both of body an 1
mind. They kept a good digestion, which is itself no small part of
a character. The mothers spent their nervous impulse on their
muscles, and had so much less need of keeping down the excess, or

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 6i

calming the unspent lightning, by doses of anodyne. In the play
of the wheel they spent fibre too, within, and in the weaving, wove
it close and firm. Be it true as it may, that the mothers of the
homespun age had a severe limit on their culture and accomplish
nients. Be it true that we demand a delicacy and elegance of man-
ners impossible to them, under the rugged necessities they bora
Still there is, after all, something very respectable in good health,
and a great many graces play in its look that we love to study, even
if there be a little of "perdurable toughness" in their charms. How
much is there, too, in the sublime motherhood of health! Hence
come, not always, I know, but oftenest, the heroes and the great
minds gifted with volume and power, and balanced for the manly
virtues of truth, courage, persistency, and all sorts of victory. It
was also a great point, in this homespun mode of life, that it imparted
exactly what many speak of only with contempt, a closely girded
habit of economy. Harnessed, all together, into the producing pro-
cess, young and old, male and female, from the boy that rode the
plough-horse to the grandmother, knitting under her spectacles,
they had no conception of squandering lightly what they had all
been at work, thread by thread, and grain by grain, to produce.
They knew too exactly what everything cost, even small things, not
to husband them carefully. Men of patrimony in the great world,
therefore, noticing their small way in trade, or expenditure, are
ready, as we often see, to charge them with meanness, simply be-
cause they knew things only in a small way; or, what is not far
different, because they were too simple and rustic, to have any con-
ception of the big operations, by which other men are wont to
get their money without earning it, and lavish the more freely because
it was not earned. Still this knowing life only in the small, it
will be found, is really anything but meanness.

Probably enough the man who is heard threshing in his barn
of a winter evening by the light of a lantern, (I knew such an
example), will be seen driving his team next day, the coldest day of
the year, through the deep snow to a distant wood lot, to draw
a load for a present to his minister. So the housewife that higgles
for a half hour with the merchant over some small trade, is yet one
that will keep watch, not unlikely, when the school master, board-
ing round the district, comes to some hard quarter, and commence
asking him to dinner, then to tea, then to stay over night, and
literally boarding him, till the hard quarter is passed. Who now»
in the great world of money, will do, not to say the same, as much,
proportionally as much, in any of the pure hospitalities of life?

Besides, what sufficiently disproves any real meanness, it will
be tound that children brought up in this way to know things in the
small, what they cost, and what is their value, have in just that
fact one of the best securities of character and most certain elements
of power and success in life; because they expect to get on by
small advances followed up and saved by others, not by sudden leaps
of fortune that despise the slow but surer methods of industry and

62 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Dierit. Wlien the hard, wiry-looking patriarch of homespun, for
example, sets out for Hartford, or Bridgeport, to exchange the little
surplus of his year's production, carrying his provision with him
-and the fodder of his team, and taking his boy along to show him
the great world, you may laugh at the simplicity, or pity, if you
will, the sordid look of the picture; but, five or ten years hence, this
boy will like enough be found in College, digging out the cent's worth
of his father's money in hard study; and some twenty years later
he will be returning in his honors, as the celebrated Judge, or
Governor, or Senator and public orator, from some one of the great
States of the Republic, to bless the sight once more of that vener-
ated pair who shaped his beginnings and planted the small seeds of
his future success. Small seeds, you may have thought, of mean-
ness; but now they have grown up and blossomed into a large
minded life, a generous public devotion, and a free benevolence to
mankind.

And just here, I am persuaded, is the secret, in no small degree,
of the very peculiar success that has distinguished the sons of
Connecticut and, not least, those of Litchfield County, in their migra-
tion to other States. It is because they have gone out in the wise
economy of a simple, homespun training, expecting to get on in
the world by merit and patience, and by a careful husbanding of
small advances; secured in their virtue by just that which makes
their perseverance successful. For the men who see the great in
the small and go on to build the great by small increments, will
commonly have an exact conscience too that beholds great princi-
l)les in small things, and so will form a character of integrity, before
both God and man, as solid and massive as the outward successes
they conquer

I have wished, in particular, to bring out an impression of the
unrecorded history of the times gone by. We must not think that
the great men have made the history. Rather it is the history that
has made the men. It is the homespun many, the simple Christian
men and women of the century gone by, who bore their life struggle
faithfully, in these valleys and among these hills, and who now
are sleeping in the untitled graves of Christian worth and piety.
These are they whom we are most especially to honor, and it is good
for us all to see and know, in their example, how nobly fruitful and
beneficent that virtue may be, which is too common to be distin-
guished, and is thought of only as the worth of unhistoric men.
Wortli indeed it is, that worth which, being common, is the sub-
structure and the prime condition of a happy, social state, and of
all the honors that dignify its historj^: worth, not of men only, but
quite as much of women; for you have seen, at every turn of my
subject, how the age gone by receives a distinctive character from
the queens of the distaff and the loom, and their princely mother-
hood. Let no woman imagine that she is without consequence, or
motive to excellence, because she is not conspicuous, Oh, it is
the greatness of woman that she is so much like the great powers

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 63

of nature, back of the noise and clatter of the world's aifairs, tem-
pering all things with her benign influence only the more certainly
because of her silence, greatest in her beneficence because most remote
from ambition, most forgetful of herself and fame; a better nature
in the world that only waits to bless it, and refuses to be known
save in the successes of others, whom she makes conspicuous; satis-
fied most, in the honors that come not to her, that "Her husband is
known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land!". . .
Men and women of Litchfield County, such has been the past;
a good and honorable past! We give it over to you: the future
is with you. It must, we know be different, and it will be what you
make it. Be faithful to the sacred trust God is this day placing in
jour hands. One thing, at least, I hope; that, in these illustrations
I have made some just impression on you all of the dignity of work.
How magnificent an honor it is, for the times gone by, that when
so many schemes are on foot, as now, to raise the weak; when the
friends of the dejected classes of the world are proposing even to
reorganize society itself for their benefit, trying to humanize punish-
ments, to kindle hope in disability, and nurse depravity into a
condition of comfort, (a distinction how magnificent!), that our
fathers and mothers of the century passed had, in truth, no dejected
classes, no disability, only here and there a drone of idleness, or a
sporadic case of vice and poverty; excelling, in the picture of social
comfort and well-being actually realized, the most romantic visions
of our new seers. They want a reorganization of society! — some-
thing better than the Christian gospel and the Christian family
state! — some community in hollow-square, to protect them and coax
them up into a life of respect, and help them to be men! No, they
did not even so much as want the patronage of a bank of savings
to encourage them and take the wardship of their cause. They
knew how to make their money, and how to invest it, and take
care of it, and make it productive; how to build, and plant, and
make sterility fruitful, and conquer all the hard weather of life.
Their producing process took everything at a disadvantage; for they
had no capital, no machinery, no distribution of labor, nothing but
wild forest and rock; but they had metal enough in their character
to conquer their defects of outfit and advantage. They sucked honey
out of the rock, and oil out of the fiinty rock. Nay, they even seemed to
want something a little harder than nature in her softer moods
could ^'ield them. Their ideal of a Goshen they sought out, not in
the rich alluvion of some fertile Nile, but upon the crest of the
world, !<omewhere between the second and third heaven where Provi-
dence itself grows cold, and there, making warmth by their exercise
and their prayers, they prepared a happier state of competence and
Avealth, than the Goshen of the sunny Nile ever saw. Your con-
<lition vnll hereafter be softened, and your comforts multiplied. Let
your culture be as much advanced. But let no delicate spirit that
despises Avork, grow up in your sons and daughters. Make these
rocky hills smoothe their faces and smile under your industry. Let

64 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

no absurd ambition tempt you to imitate the manners of the great
world of fashion and rob you thus of the respect and dignity that
pertaia to manners properly your OAvn. Maintain, above all, your
religious exactness. Think what is true, and then respect your-
selves in living exactly what you think. Fear God and keep His
commandments, as your godly fathers and mothers did before you,
and found, as we have seen, to be the beginning of wisdom. As
their graves are with you, so be that faith in God, which ennobled
their lives and glorified their death, an inheritance in you, and a
legacy transmitted by you to your children.

CHAPTER VII.

LITCHFIELD IN THE HEVOLUTION.
BY DOROTHY BULL.

The hardy life of the Age of Homespun and the severe discipline
of the Colonial Wars, prepared the people morally and physically
for the severer test to come, in which the new nation "conceived in
liberty" was to be born. Out of that background of vigorous and
earnest life came the great figures of the founders of our nation and
the sturdy army of citizen soldiers, who were to preserve and renew
the fine tradition of their race.

Let us picture our village at the close of the French War, with
its streets still unkempt, its houses more widely scattered than now,
its people vigorously engaged in the occupations of the pioneer
farmer, and cherishing, no doubt, new hopes of peace and prosperity.
Already the little to^vn had taken its place in the life of the Colony
as the County Seat of a new County. The first Court House and
Jail were built, and Oliver Wolcott, then a young man in the middle
thirties, had taken up his duties as High Sheriff and built his house
on South Street. Elisha Sheldon had come from Lyme, and aftei-
a service of seven years as Associate Judge of the Court of Com-
mon Pleas for the county, had been elected to the Connecticut Legis-
lature as a member of the Upper House. Jedediah Strong had
graduated from Yale, and was shortly to begin his career, as "petti-
fogger and politician". Bezaleel Beebe had returned, at the age of
twenty-one, from four years' service in the Colonial wars, and set-
tled on the Beebe homestead, north of Bantam Lake, with his young
wife Elizabeth Marsh, the daughter of Captain John Marsh. Young
Judah Champion had begun ten years before, his energetic pastorate
of the First Society of the Congregational Church, and the! new
Meeting House on the Green had just been finished. Into this atmos-
phere of industry and peace came in 1765 the first rumble of the
approaching storm.

Between Great Britain and her colonies stretched three thous-
and miles of "unplumbed, salt, estranging sea". Between the minds
of the British Government and of the settlers of the New World
lay unmeasured spaces of "unplumbed, salt, estranging thought".
The Home Government was concerned chiefly with its own credit,
with the low state of the exchequer after the recent wars, and with
dreams of empire. The Stamp Act seemed a simple solution of the
first two questions, and a reasonable assistance in the third. The
Colonies were prospering. They were protected by the Crown,
Why should they not share the expenses of the Crown? The Colo-

66 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

nies thought otherwise. They had borne their full share of the
successive Colonial Wars and the burden had not been a light one,
to men still engaged in the task of subduing the wilderness. But,
aside from the hardship of the tax itself, they felt that it was potent
with danger to the liberties so hardly acquired and cherished through
the changing fortunes of Colonial history. These liberties they
felt to be their rightful heritage as Englishmen. They would not
relinquish them. Kilbourne tells us p. 82, of the instant indigna-
tion aroused by the Stamp Act in this State and town. "The JJegis-
lature of Connecticut", he says, "protested against it, and finally
agreed upon an address to parliament, which was sent to the colo-
nial agent in London, with instructions 'firmly to insist on the
exclusive right of the colonies to tax themselves'. The' people
everywhere were excited and the measure was freely discussed
and boldly denounced at the corners of the streets, in popular
assemblies, and in town meetings. The more resolute and reckless
of the populace formed themselves into secret organizations called
'The Sons of Liberty', with the design of preventing the use of the
stamped paper by a simimary process if necessary. In this town
there was probably no difference of opinion on the main question at
issue. On matters of minor importance the people did not always
agree. The Connecticut Courant of February 10th, 1766, contains
a communication dated at Litchfield on the 1st of February of that
year, which is as follows:

'At the desire of several of the Towns of this County, by their Agents
chosen and sent here for that Purpose, a Meeting was called of the Free-
born Sons of Liberty, to meet at the Court-House in this Town ; and being
assembled to the Number of about forty or fifty Persons — proceeded upon
the Business for which they met. And notwithstanding the great Opposi-
tion they met with, from Colonel E r M h and one S li

S e, (whereby the Meeting was much hindered,) yet they came to the

Choice of five Gentlemen, who were to act as Agents, and are to join the
Gentlemen from the other Towns in the County, who are to meet here,
at a general County Meeting, to be held on the second Tuesday of February,
1/66, at ten o'clock in the forenoon ; when it is expected they will come to
such Resolves as they shall think most Conducive to prevent the Thing we
fear from ever taking Place among us. The Meeting would have been
conducted with the utmost good Agreement and Dispatch, had it not been
for the Gentlemen mentioned above, who employed all their Power to
render it abortive, not only by consuming the Time in long and needless

Speeches, (wherein Mr. M h especially discovered to all present, an

inexhaustible Fund of Knowledge, by several new-coined Words, unknown
in the English Language before,) but they also opposed by their Votes
almost every Motion that was made to forward it.' "

Although the difference of opinion here recorded was probably
over minor matters, — very possibly a question of policy rather than
principle, — it was undoubtedly a fore-runner of those more serious
differences which were to continue thoughout the war, with all the
intensity and bitterness consequent to civil strife. "There were . . .
in this town", says Kilbourne, p. 114, "as elsewhere throughout the

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 67

land — ^honorable, influential and conscientious men — who, while
they openly disapproved of many acts of the parliament were yet
warmly attached to the royal cause. They looked upon revolution
as not only treason to their sovereign, but predestined to be ruinous
to all who might engage in it; and they chose to suffer what th^
regarded as only temporary evUs, rather than rush into the vortex
of war for redress". Among these people the Episcopalians were
peculiarly bound by every tie of affection and necessity to the mother
country. Litchfield was still a "missionary station". The Rector
of St Michael's received a portion of his salary directly from the
"Venerable Society in England for Propagating the Gospel in For-
eign Parts". For the members of the Church of England, "inde-
pendence not only involved a political separation from Great Britain,
but a severance of an ecclesiastical bond of union which they had
long regarded as indispensable to their prosperity if not to their
very existence as a church". (Kilbourne, p. 115). Many of them
therefore were opposed to the Revolution and feeling ran high.
The incident of the stoning of St. Michael's by revolutionary troops
is described elsewhere. In the bitter alchemy of war the elements
of national character were to be divided and fused anew. No
tie could escape the fire. "Friends, neighbors, and even households
became divided and estranged". (Kilbourne, p. 116).

In 1760, however, only the most far-seeing could have dreamed
of revolution. Only three years before, Benjamin Franklin, in a
pamphlet on the wisdom of retaining Canada rather then Guada-
loupe as a prize of war, had assured the people of Great Britain
that the colonies would never "unite against their own nation . . .
which 'tis well known they all love much more than they love one
another". (Eve of the Revolution. Becker, p. 5). In the Gon-
necticut Courant of February 24th, 1766, appears the record of that
Litchfield County Meeting heralded in the issue of the 10th. "In
their declaration", says Kilbourne, p. 83, "the purest sentiments of
patriotism and loyalty, are blended with a love of good order and a
regard for the supremacy of the law, which are remarkable for those
times. The people of Litchfield were no friends of mob-law, even
when mobs were fashionable elsewhere. Separation from the

mother-country, was a subject which had not then been breathed
audibly, even if it had been thought of by the most zealous patriot".
The "declarations" are given in full by Kilbourne, pp. 83-86. They
begin with the following preamble, in which it is interesting to
note that the people rest their case upon their heritage as English-
men, "the unalterable basis of the British Constitution", in which
they had so just a pride. Preamble:

"At a Meeting of the Inhabitants of almost all the Towns in Litch-i
field County, convened by their Agents in Litchfield on the second Tuesday
in February 1766, for the Purpose of giving the clearest Manifestation of
their fixed and most ardent Desire to preserve, as far as in them lies, those
inherent Rights and Privileges which essentially belong to them as a Free
People, and which are founded upon the unalterable Basis of the British

68 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Constitution, and have been confirmed by the most solemn Sanctions — and
of their readiness to promote (according to their Ability) the public Peace
and Happiness, which have been greatly disturbed by the most alarming
Infringements upon their Rights the following Sentiments were unanimously
agreed in".

The declaration here continues through seven articles to
emphasize the unconstitutionality of the Stamp Act, and while
expressing most faithful alliance to the Crown, declares (Article
II):

"That they conceive to keep up in their brightest View the first Prin-
ciples and Origins of the English Government and strictly to adhere to the
primary Institutions of it, is the only sure Way to preserve the same, and
consequently the Prerogative of the Crown, and the Civil Liberties of the
Subject, inviolate".

They add also (Article VI) :

"That God made Mankind free, (as being essential to their Happiness)
and as, by His Blessing the Advantages of English Liberty have been handed
down to them from their most virtuous and loyal Ancestors, so they will
endeavor, by all reasonable Ways and Means within their Power, uprightly
to preserve and faithfully to transmit the same to their Posterity".

From this premise they continue to Article IX :

"That if any Stamped Papers shall be imported into any Part of this
Colony (which they most cordially wish might never be,) they hope the
speediest public Notice thereof may be given, that the same may be pre-
served UNTOUCHED for His Majesty".

They further warn the authorities that if anyone has repre-
sented the people of the Colony as acquiescing in the Act in ques-
tion, such representation has been made either through extreme
ignorance or deliberate malice. The strength and gravity of pur-
pose of the best spirit of the time is manifest in this document,
together with a moderation and sobriety, which as Kilbourne has
noted, is truly remarkable. Thus in Article XI, we find:

"That they will never suflFer anj' Jealousies to arise in their Minds, that
any Person in this Colony is unfriendly to its Civil Liberties, except upon
the fullest, clearest, and most undeniable Evidence".

and in Article XIII:

"That whereas some very ignorant or dissolute Persons may, in this
time of Perplexity, be disposed to commit Outrages against the Persons or
Property of others, or to treat with Disrespect and Insult the civil Authority
of this Colony ; They do therefore, hereby solemnly declare, that Nothing
(except a Privation of their Liberties,) could or ought to fill their Minds
with a deeper and more fixed Resentment than such Conduct — and that they
will always be ready and willing to assist and support, to the utmost of
their Ability, the public Magistrates, in preserving, in the greatest Purity,
the Peace and good Order of the Public".

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THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 69

The Stamp Act was repealed in this year, but matters were in
no wise mended- Continued imposts were made on articles imported
from England; indignation in the Colonies increased; and finally a
merchant's agreement was made, known as "the non-importation
agreement". This, however, proved to be something of a boomerang,
and was "shamefully violated", says Kilbourne, p. 86, by the mer-
chants of New York. Thereupon Connecticut summoned a "General
Convention of Delegates from all the towns in the Colony", to be held
in New Haven on September 13th, 1770, "to take into consideration
the perilous condition of the country, to provide for the growth
and spread of home manufactures, and to devise more thorough
means of carrying out the non-importation agreement". To this
Convention Captain John Osborn and Jedediah Strong were sent
as Delegates from Litchfield by vote of a town meeting.

About this time also, the Connecticut Legislature took steps to
improve the condition of the militia of the Colony; "why", says Kil-
bourne, p. 87, "they were scarcely themselves aware". Officers who
had served with ability in the French War, now received advance
commissions. Among these were Oliver Wolcott of Litchfield, "who
had commanded a company in the north in 1748, and was now com-
missioned as Colonel; and Ebenezer Gay, a resident of Sharon but
a native of this town, who was raised to the rank of Lieutenant
Colonel". (Kilbourne, p. 87.) Kilbourne further remarks in this
connection: "These officers, by long service with the commanders in
the Standing Army of England, had learned whatever was worth
knowing in their system of military tactics, while they had failed to
learn their inefficiency, procrastination, and punctilious regard for
etiquette". How just an estimate this is of the British officer of
the period, it is difficult to judge. There is no doubt that during
the French Wars the troops frequently suffered from the stupidity
of their officers; while Lord Howe and others in the Kevolution
often failed to follow up their successes. The pernicious practice
of selling commissions must have worked havoc in any army.
Nevertheless, some able men were undoubtedly attracted to military
life, and it is no derogation of our own army to assume that the
forces to which it was opposed for seven years, were in many cases
officered by men of intelligence, energy and devotion.

Stupidity in high places, however, was to work its inevitable
mischief in British-American relations. All the indignation of
the Colonists, all reasonable remonstrance of the wiser heads on
both sides of the Atlantic, failed to break down the stubborn com-
placency of the King and his ill-chosen advisors. Oppressive
measures continued. Resistance increased in proportion. Shortly
after the "Boston Tea Party", and the subsequent blockade of Boston
Harbor, we find the inhabitants of Litchfield issuing the following
document, which Woodruff, p. 32, credits to Oliver Wolcott.

"The Inhabitants of Litchfield, in legal Town Meeting assembled, on
the 17th day of August, A. D. 1774, taking into consideration the Distress to

70 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

which the Poor of the Town of Boston may likely be reduced by the opera-
tion of an Act of the British Parliament for Blocking up their Port, and
deeply commiserating the unhappiness of a brave and loyal People, who are
thus eminently suflfering in a General Cause, for Vindicating what every
sensible virtuous American considers art" essential Right of this Country,
think it is their indispensable Duty to afford their unhappy distressed
brethren of said Town of Boston, all reasonable Aid and Support. And
this they are the more readily induced to, not only as the Inhabitants of
said Town are thus severely condemned for their reluctance to submit to an
arbitrary, an unconsented to, and consequently unconstitutional Taxation,
but the whole of the great and loyal Province of the Massachusetts Bay
have been condemned unheard, in the loss of their Charter Privileges, by
the heretofore unknown and unheard of Exertions of Parliamentary Power,
which they conceive is a Power claimed and exercised in such a manner as
cannot fail of striking every unprejudiced mind with Horror and Amaze-
ment, as being subversive of all those inherent, essential and constitutional
Rights, Liberties and Privileges which the good people of this Colony have
ever held sacred, and even dearer than Life itself, nor ever can wish to
survive; not only every idea of Property, but every Emolument of civil Life,
being thereby rendered precarious and uncertain.

"In full confidence, therefore, that no Degree of Evil thus inflicted on
said Town and Province, will ever induce them to give up, or betray their
own and the American Constitutional Rights and Privileges, especially as
they cannot but entertain the most pleasing Expectations that the Commit-
tees of the several North American Provinces, who are soon to meet at
Philadelphia, will in their wisdom be able to point out a Method of .Conduct
eflFectual for obtaining Redress of those grievances — a Method to which
(when once agreed upon by said Committee) this Town will look upon
it their duty strictly to attend. And in the Mean Time, earnestly recommend
that Subscriptions be forthwith opened in this Town, under the care of
Reuben Smith, Esq. Capt. Lynde Lord, and Mr. WiUiam Stanton, who are
hereby appointed a Committee to receive and forward to the Selectmen
of Boston, for the use of the Poor in that Place, all such Donations as
shall be thereupon made for that Purpose ; as also to correspond with the
Committee of Correspondence there or elsewhere, as there may be Occa-
sion.

"We also take this Opportunity publicly to return our Thanks to the
members of the Honorable House of Representatives of this Colony, for
their patriotic and loyal Resolutions, passed and published in the last
Assembly on the Occasion, and order them to be entered at large on the
public Records of this Town, that succeeding Ages may be faithfully furnished
with authentic Credentials of our inflexible attachment to those inestimable
Privileges which We and every honest American glory in esteeming our
unalienable Birthright and Inheritance".

Four months later, we find the Town appointing a Committee
"for the Purposes mentioned in the Eleventh Article of the Associa-
tion Agreement of the Grand Continental Congress in Philadelphia,
5th of September last, and Approved, Adopted, and Kecommended
by the General Assembly of this Colony at their session in October
last".

Kilbourne explains, p. 91, that the "Article" herein referred
to, provides for "Committees of Inspection" in each city and town.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 71

"whose business it shall be attentively to observe the conduct of
all persons touching this Association; and when it shall be made to
appear that any person has violated its articles, they are to cause
their names to be published in the Gazette, to the end that all such
foes to the rights of British America may be publicly known and
universally contemned as the enemies of American Liberty, and
thenceforth we break off all dealings with him or her". Committees
of Inspection were also appointed at the Town Meetings in 1775 and
1776. ■

In 1775 the storm broke. Early in this year, David Welch,
whose house still stands near Milton on the Litchfield road, was in
command of a company called into active service. In April he
was commissioned as Major in Colonel Hinman's regiment. In this
same month a lieutenant's commission was given to Bezaleel Beebe,
whose four years service in the French War and rank of Ensign
under Archibald McNeile, entitled him to consideration as a soldier
of some experience. Fisher Gay of Farmington, a native of Litch-
field, was among those commissioned in March by special session
of the Legislature, receiving the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. In
May the country was stirred by the capture of Ticonderoga by Ethan
Allen and his "Green Mountain Boys", that hardy band of pioneer
adventurers, trained in the rough school of border warfare, in the
boundary disputes of New York and New Hampshire. Allen
was born in Litchfield, and this, Litchfield was now glad to remember,
though his family had taken him at the age of two to the neighboring
town of Cornwall, and there and in Sharon he passed his boyhood.
Lieutenant Crampton who was with him at Ticonderoga and entered
the fort at his side, was also a native of Litchfield, and lived here,
Kilbourne tells us, p. 93, for a large part of his life. Ticonderoga,
because of its position as a key to the northern waterways, was a
place of considerable strategic importance and its capture was a
triimiph for the American arms. On the day following, the gar-
rison at Crown Point, with all its military stores, was also sur-
rendered to the Americans under Colonel Warner, a native of Rox-
bury in this county. In June came the news of Bunker Hill. At
this time young Aaron Burr had been living in Litchfield for more
than a year, at the house of his brother-in-law Tapping Reeve, read-
ing history and absorbing all the passionate thought and feeling
of the time. He now determined to enlist, and September found
him serving as a private soldier in Arnold's remarkable expedition
through the wilderness to Quebec. After enduring unimagined
hardships of cold, privation and illness, and overcoming almost
insurmountable obstacles in the unfriendly forests of the north, the
expedition arrived near Quebec, diminished in numbers, depleted
in strength, and bitterly in need of reinforcement. General Mont-
gomery was at that time at a post beyond the British lines, waiting
for the arrival of Arnold and his men. It was necessary to inform
him of their dangerous situation. To do this a messenger must go
through the enemy lines. Burr volunteered for this service, and

72 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

disguised as a priest, succeeded in fulfilling his mission, undetected.
We hear of him later through a letter of Judge Reeve's, (quoted by
Kilboume, p. 93) as an aide to General Montgomery in the unfortu-
nate attack on the city. "During this year also", says Kilboume,
rather quaintly, (the capitalization is his) "Jedediah Strong was
appointed a Commissary to purchase Horses for the Army; and
Oliver Wolcott was chosen a member of the continental congress".

While Litchfield men were serving abroad, the people at home
were not idle. In his sermon on Judah Champion, the Reverend
Frank J. Goodwin quotes an anecdote characteristic of the spirit
of the time, and of that ardent patriot and preacher:

"One pleasant Sabbath morning, the congregation had gatheretl
together and had just commenced the morning hymn, when through
the still streets, there came the sharp clatter of horses hoofs —
always so ominous at that time, of tidings from the army. As usual
when the courier arrived in any town on the Sabbath he made
straight for the 'meeting house'. Reaching the door, he dismounted,
and flinging the bridle over the horse's neck, entered the building.
The singing ceased, and every eye was turned on the stranger as
he walked up the broad aisle and ascended the pulpit stairs. He
handed Mr. Champion a paper, who, with a smile of triumph on his
face, arose and read 'St. Johns is taken'. It must be remembered
that this place (which was the key of Canada) had been besieged
six weeks, till people began almost to despair of its ever being taken.
The noble pastor, the moment he had finished the sentence, lifted
his eyes to heaven and exclaimed: 'Thank God for victory'. The
chorister, sitting opposite the pulpit in the gallery, clapped his
hands and shouted: 'Amen and Amen!' For awhile the joy was
unrestrained, but the pastor soon checked it by saying: 'There is
something more to be heard.' He then read a lengthy communica-
tion, stating that the army was in a suffering condition. It was
now the latter part of November, and there, on the borders of
Canada, the -winter was already setting in, and yet the troops were
about to march for Quebec to undergo the rigors of a winter cam-
paign. It described in vivid language their suffering condition.
They were destitute of clothing, without shoes or stockings, and
yet were ordered to traverse the frozen fields of the north.

"The touching description lost none of its pathos as read by
the pastor and commented on by him at its close. When he had
finished there was hardly a dry eye in the house. Especially the
women were overcome with emotion. As soon as the congregation
was dismissed, a few prominent ladies were seen to gather round
the young pastor with eager countenances. They were evidently
asking him some questions, and it was equally evident, from his
benevolent smile and nodding head, that he was answering them
satisfactorily. Soon they began to move rapidly among the other
women that, in turn, gathered into groups in earnest conversation.
After a little while they all dispersed to their homes. When the
congregation assembled for afternoon service mot a woman was in

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 7^

the Church. The wives, mothers and maidens had laid aside their
Sabbath apparel and drawn forth their spinning wheels, set in
motion their looms, and brought out their knitting needles and
hand cards, and the village suddenly became a hive of industry.
On that usually still Puritan Sabbath afternoon there now rung
out on every side the himi of the wheel and the click of the shuttle-
sounds never before heard in Litchfield on the Sabbath day, and
which contrasted strangely with those of prayer and praise in the
adjoining sanctuary. Yet both believed that they were serving
Ood. The women were working for those brave patriots who
were about to march, destitute and barefoot, over the frozen ground
to strike for freedom. Many years after, when a venerable old
man, Mr. Champion was asked by his grand-daughter how he could
approve such a desecration of the Sabbath. He turned on her a
solemn look and replied simply: 'Mercy before sacrifice!'"

It is typical of the tragic embitterment of war as well as the
sternness of the Puritan faith, that we are later to fijid this generous
spirit engaged with all the ardor and eloquence of his nature in
the famous imprecatory prayer against the enemy. It is, however,
comforting to remember that, while theoretically the enemy was
accursed and a just object of hate, in actual practice the fiery little
pastor found him simply a man and a brother; and while he was
with the army in the north, he cared as faithfully for the sick and
wounded of the British Army as for our own. "Such was his zeal
and self-sacrifice", Dr. Goodwin tells us, "that the British officers,
iis well as our own, returned him their warmest thanks".

The year of 1776, which was to be such an eventful one for the
Colonies, began in Litchfield with the enlistment by Bezaleel Beebe,
now a captain, of a company, under orders for the defense of New
York- The news was received with great enthusiasm. Kilbourne
tells us, p. 94, that one man when he heard it "started on a run for
the Captain's headquarters, fearing the roll would be full before he
€0uld reach there", and that "Captain's Beebe's orders reached him
on a Sunday, and the following Saturday, the company had been
raised, armed and equipped, and were on their march toward Fair-
field". We quote here the enlistment agreement given by Kil-
bourne, p. 94.

"We the Subscribers, being convinced of the Necessity of a body of
Forces to defeat certain Wicked Purposes formed by the instruments of
Ministerial Tyranny, do solemnly engage ourselves and enlist as Private
Soldiers, in a Regiment to be Commanded by Colonel Andrew Ward, Jr,,
under the command of Major General Lee, for the Term of Eight Weeks
at the utmost from the Day we March from Fairfield, which is the place
of Rendezvous ; the Honorable Major General Lee having given his Word
and Honor that we shall not be Detained a single Day after said Term.
Dated at Litchfield, 21st day of January, 1776".

74 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

The following list for appraisal, is also interesting as an
example of the simplicity of military organization at that time.

Litchfield, 26th January, 1776

"We, being requested to apprise the Arms belonging to CapL Bezaleel
Beebe's Company, in Col. Andrew Ward's Regiment, going on an expedition
to New York under the command of General Charles Lee — we accordingly
apprized the same, being first duly sworn, viz.,

Elihu Harrison's Gun, Bayonet and Cartridge Box, in his own hands,
(Figures omitted).

Roger N. Whittlesey's Gun in the hands of Briant Stoddard.

Joseph San ford's Gun, Bayonet and Belt in his own hands.

Nathaniel Allen's Gun, Bayonet and Belt in his own hands.

Obed Stoddard's Gun, bayonet, Cartridge box and belt.

Joshua Smith's Gun in his own hands.

Zebulon Bissell's Gun in his own hands.

James Woodruff's Gun carried by Stephen Brown.

Phineas Goodwin's Gun, bayonet and belt.

Whiting Stanley's Gun carried by James Crampton.

Oliver Woodruff's Gun carried by himself.

Hezekiah Agard's Gun carried by John Lyman.

Jedediah Strong's Gun, bayonet and belt carried by Wm. Patterson.

Lieut. Jonathan Mason's Cartridge box.

Samuel Canfield's Gun carried by himself.

Noah Garnsey's Gun carried by T. Weed.

Sergt. Benjamin Bissell's Gun and Bayonet carried by himself.

Asa Osborn's Gun and Cartridge box carried by himself.

Jedediah Strong's Gun carried by Benjamin Taylor.

Jedediah Strong's Gun carried by Frederick Stanley.

Reuben Smith, Esq's Gun, Bayonet, Case and Belt, carried by Capt.
Beebe.

Capt. John Osborn's Gun carried by Moses Taylor.
ABRAHAM BRADLEY,
THOMAS CATLIN,

OBED STODDER, Appraisers on Oath.
Stodder is probably a misprint or variant for Stoddard, as Obed
Stoddard is one of the signers of the enlistment agreement.

The short term of enlistment was characteristic of the period,
and made the conduct of the war immeasurably more difficult. In
an address before the Litchfield Historical Society, on the occasion
of its semi-centennial, William Webster Ellsworth quotes in this
connection, General Washington's remarks at the time of the siege of
Boston: "It is not in the page of history, to furnish a case like
ours; to maintain a post within musket shot of the enemy without
powder, and at the same time to disband an army and recruit another
within that distance of twenty odd British regiments". These

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 75

short enlistments were probably due, in part, to the hope, so gener-
ally held in the first stages of any war, that "it can't last long".
Moreover, in a country chiefly agricultural and self-dependent, the
able-bodied men were needed at home to produce the necessities of
life; and the young farmers, habituated to thinking first of the
needs of their farms, and unused to the discipline of organized war-
fare, probably could not conceive the necessities of the occasion.
"The French and Indian Wars", Mr. Ellsworth tells us, "had been
conducted with Arcadian simplicity, and it had been the custom to
cease fighting in the winter and go home to feed the stock". Never-
theless, as the war continues, we find the same men enlisting again
and again for active service.

In May of this year, Kilboume tells us, p. 96, "a regiment was
ordered to be raised for the defense of the State, 'to be subject to
join the continental army, if so ordered by the Governor'. Captain
Beebe was appointed to the command of one of the companies of
this regiment, with Jesse Cook for 1st lieutenant and James Watson
for 2d lieutenant. Lieut. Watson was soon transferred to another
corps and John Smith of Litchfield was commissioned in his place".
Some information concerning the members of this company is given
in sundry accounts and memoranda among the papers of Captain
Beebe; quotes! by Kilboume, p. 97, "August 9, To cash paid for
coffin for Ira Stone; 'Lieut. John Smith was discharged from the
army in New York'; 'John German was dismissed from my com-
pany by order of a General Court Martial, July 9, 1776'; ' Aug. 9,
James Beach died about 8 o'clock in the morning'; 'Sept the 5th,
10 o'clock at night, Samuel Gleason died'; in the account with Joel
Taylor — 'Paid one dollar to Zebulon Taylor to deliver to the mother
of the above Joel Taylor, deceased, it being cash that was with him
when he died'; 'Sept. 27, 1777, Keceived of Capt. Beebe 22 shillings
for mileage from Philadelphia to Litchfield. (Signed,) Abraham
Haskins'. From the account of Gershom Gibbs — 'Received of Capt.
Beebe three dollars that belonged to my husband and son which
was part of the money sent to them whilst prisoners in New York.
(Signed,) Tabitha Gibbs'. From the account with Nathaniel Allen
— 'Sept. 27, 1777, To cash left with Joseph Agard to be paid to Mrs.
Allen that was left with me when Mr. Allen died'. From the
account with Phineas Goodwin — 'To back rations 16 days at Fort
Washington, '&c.,

Kilbourne gives us, pp. 98-101, a more complete account of the
fortunes of some of these men, and others who enlisted from Litch-
field. We quote it with some few abridgements.

"About the 1st of November, 1776, thirty-six picked men, were
placed under the command of Capt. Beebe and set to Fort Wash-
ington to aid in its defense. This post, together with Fort Lee on
the Jersey shore, commanded the mouth of the Hudson, and was
hence regarded by the enemy as a tempting prize. In anticipation
of an attack, the works had been strengthened and reinforced. At
the critical time, the Fort and Harlem Heights were manned by

76 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

two Pennsylvania Regiments commanded by Colonels Magraw and
Shea, Rawlin's Riflemen from Maryland, some of the militia of the
flying camp, and a few companies detailed from the Connecticut Regi-
ments. On the 15th of November, Sir William Howe summoned
Colonel Magraw, (who had the chief command of the garrison),
to surrender. That brave officer — acting under the immediate
advice of Crenerals Putnam and Greene, responded, that he would
defend himself to the last extremity. On the morning of the 16th
the attack was commenced at four different points nearly at the same
moment. . . . The assailants were provided with excellent trains of
artillery, which were brought to bear with effect. The attack was
prosecuted with extraordinary energy and spirit, and the Americans
continued to defend themselves until resistance became fruitless.
During a recess in the fight, the garrison was again summoned to
surrender; and after a brief consultation with the officers, Magraw
capitulated. The entire American force, amounting to two thousand
six hundred men, surrendered as prisoners of war. During the siege,
the enemy lost about twelve hundred, and the Americans about four
hundred- . . .

"The terms of the capitulation were regarded as liberal and
honorable on the part of the victors, and highly favorable to the
vanquished. The manner in which those terms were violated, and
set at naught, by the miscreants into whose hands the unfortunate
prisoners were placed, is without parallel in the history of the revo-
lutionary struggle. Crowded, with hundreds of others, into the
Sugar-House and on board the Prison-Ships, without air or water
and for the first two days without food, contagion and death were
the natural consequences. The dysentery, small-pox, and other
terrible diseases, broke out among them, and very few of the whole
number survived the terrible ordeal. On the 27th of December,
1776, an exchange of prisoners took place. Only eleven of Captain
Beebe's Company were able to sail for Connecticut. Six of these
died on the way home. The remainder of those who were living
at that date, being too ill to be removed, were left behind — where all
(except Sergeant Mather), died within a few days, most of them
with the small-pox. Here follow the names of these "picked men".
The notes appear to have been added by Captain Beebe at the differ-
ent periods corresponding with the dates":

"An Account of the Prisoners' Names and Places of Confinement".

Sergt. Cotton Mather — returned home.

Sergt. David Hall — died of the small-pox on board the Grosvenor, Dec.

II, 1776.
Elijah Loomis — died.

Gershom Gibbs — died on board the ship, Dec. 29, 1776.
Timothy Stanley — died on board the ship, Dec. 29, 1776.
Amos Johnson— died Dec 26, 1776.
Timothy Marsh — died on his way home.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 77

Barnias Beach — died on his way home.

Samuel Vaill — died on board the Grosvenor, Dec. 27, 1776.

Nathaniel Allen — died of small-pox, Jan. i, 1777.

Enos Austin — died of the small-pox, Dec. 4, 1776, in the evening.

Gideon Wilcoxson — died.

Thomas Mason — reached home.

Alexander McNeil — died.

Daniel Smith — died in New York, of small-pox, Jan. i, 1777.

Noah Beach — reached home.

Daniel Benedict — reached home.

Isaac Gibbs — died Jan. 15, 1777.

Oliver Marshall — died on his way home.

Solomon Parmely — went on board the ship, and I fear he is drowned

as I cannot find him.
David Olmsted — died Jan. 4, 1777.
Jared Stuart — died Jan. 26, 1777, in the morning.
John Lyman — died Jan. 26, 1777.
Elisha Brownson — died on his way home.

The above Prisoners are at Livingston's Sugar House.

Zebulon Bissell — died in Woodbury, on his way home.

Aaron Stoddard — died Jan. 12, 1777.

John Parmely — died Jan. 15, 1777.

Joel Taylor — died Jan. 9, 1777.

James Little — reached home.

Phineas Goodwin — died Jan. 5, 1777.

The above at the Church called the North Church.

Oliver Woodruff — reached home.
Remembrance Looniis — died on his way home.
The above at Bridewell.

Corporal Samuel Cole,
Jeremiah Weed,
Joseph Spencer,
John Whiting,

Were either killed or made their escape from Fort Washington, on the
i6th of November, 1776.

"Probably no similar instance of mortality", says Kilbourne,
"occurred during the entire war. Only six survivors out of a com-
pany of thirty six hale and hearty young men, is a percentage rarely
reached, even in the most fatal engagements".

"Captain Beebe", he adds, "was allowed the limits of the city
on his parol of honor", and "was accustomed to visit his men daily,
so long as any remained, and did whatever he was allowed to do^
to alleviate their wretched condition".

78 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

The ill-treatment of prisoners was one of the saddest aspects
of the war, and one calculated to arouse the most bitterness.
Another Litchfield company had been raised in June 1776, part of
six battalions ordered from Connecticut by the General Assembly,
to reinforce the army in New York. Of this company Abraham
Bradley was Captain, Tilley Blakesley, Ist Lieutenant, Thomas Cat-
lin, 2d Lieutenant, and James Morris Jr., Ensign. "Among the
'Wolcott Papers'," Kilbourne tells us, p. 102, "is preserved the fol-
lowing Deposition* made on the 3d of May, 1777, before Andrew
Adams, Esq. J. P., by Lieutenant Thomas Catlin:

" 'That he was taken Prisoner by the British Troops on New
York Island, September 15, 1776, and confined with a great number
in close Gaol, eleven days; that he had no sustenance for forty-eight
hours after he was taken; that for eleven whole days they had only
about two days' allowance, and their pork was offensive to the smell.
That forty-two were confined in one house, till Fort Washington
was taken, when the house was crowded with other Prisoners ; after
which they were informed they should have two-thirds allowance —
which consisted of very poor Irish Pork, Bread hard, mouldy and
wormy, made of canail and dregs of flax-seed. The British Troops
had good bread. Brackish water was given to the Prisoners, and
he had seen $1.50 given for a common pail of water. Only between
three and four pounds of Pork was given three men for three days.
That for near three months, the private soldiers were confined in
the Churches, and in one were eight hundred and fifty; that about
the 25th of December, 1776, he and about two hundred and twenty
five others were put on board the Glasgow at New York to be
carried to Connecticut for exchange. They were on board eleven
days, and kept on black, coarse broken bread, and less pork than
before. Twenty eight died during these eleven days! They were
treated with great cruelty, and had no fire for sick or well. They
were crowded between decks, and many died through hardship, ill
usage, hunger and cold'."

Even allowing for the fact that the standards of the day were
rougher than our own, that sanitary measures were little under-
stood, and that the British were under the disadvantage of conduct-
ing operations on foreign soil, we cannot exonerate from the charge
of deliberate cruelty, the officers in charge of the revolutionary
prisons. No part of the story of our revolution, however, can be
justly told, that represents the enemy as inherently base, or the
characters of the warring peoples as essentially antagonistic. They
were bred to the same tradition, inheritors of centuries of common
life. It is interesting to remember that in the year in which the
American Colonies declared themselves a Free Nation, the City of
London raised a voice of protest against the prosecution of the war.

The war, however, continued; and Litchfield's part in it became
increasingly important. In July 1776, Oliver Wolcott had signed
the Declaration of Independence. Shortly after this, when the
British captured New York and all communications between New

' 1

1 m

^[AJ()R ^^nsF.s Seyml'Ur

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 79

England and Pennsylvania were forced onto a northerly route to
the Hudson and so down beyond the western highlands, Litchfield,
lying on the most direct route to the American posts on the river,
became an important military depot, which it remained until 1780.
"The depot for provisions", says Kilbourne, p. 117, "stood on the
premises now occupied by Dr. Buel's sanitarium, in North Street,
where a building was erected for that purpose sixty feet long and
two stories high. On the site of the present Court House, was
erected a building of similar dimensions as a depot for other mili-
tary stores. A workshop for the army (which was also sixty feet
in length and two stories high), stood on the north side of East
Street, just west of the Burying Ground. At each of the places
here designated, a military guard was stationed night and day — the
roll being called — the soldiers drilled, and the guard set, at stated
intervals, with as much precision as would have been observed by
an army encamped in the vicinity of the enemy. The stores and
provisions deposited here, were for much of the time under the gen-
eral superintendence of Commissary William Richards of Elizabeth-
town, N. J. Ashbel Baldwin, a native of this town, graduated at
Yale College in 1776, and soon received the appointment of Quarter-
master and was stationed here. He remained at his post between
two and three years, when he received an honorable discharge, and
was succeeded in oflfice bv Oliver Wolcott Jr., who graduated in
1778".

Prisoners of war were also often sent to Litchfield and were
kept in the Jail on East Street. "The location being so far inland,
and so distant from any navigable stream", says Kilbourne, p. 112,
"it was thought they would be less liable to be discovered and res-
cued here, than at Hartford, New Haven or Boston". Among the
prisoners detained here at various times were the Hon. William
Franklin, royal Governor of New Jersey, loyalist son of Benjamin
Franklin ; and Mr. Matthews, the English Mayor of New York. The
latter was in the custody of Captain Moses Seymour, in which he
thought himself happy; and whose courtesies he requited by the
gift of the "pleasure-carriage" elsewhere referred to. The unfortu-
nate Mayor, however, was not destined to a quiet captivity. He
was the storm-centre of many rumors, and was at one time removed
from Litchfield for fear of his life. Later he was returned and
subsequently made his escape. George C. Woodruff in his Centen-
nial Address, delivered in 1876, states that tradition had it, "that
the public authorities did not well know how to deal with his case,
and that one day when he 'walked abroad for the benefit of the
air*, (as he was permitted to do), he neglected to return; very much
to the satisfaction of all concerned in his detention".

In the summer of 1776, occurred the event, so dear to local tradi-
tion, when the leaden statue of George the third, torn from its gilded
glory on Bowling Green, was brought to Litchfield and turned into
rebel bullets by a few of the women and young people of the town.
This was done, it is supposed, at the instance of Oliver Wolcott, who

8o THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

had just returned to Connecticut from Philadelphia, and was
always keenly alive to the needs of the army. Among his papers
was found the following account of the cartridges made on this occa-
sion.

Mrs. Marvin, 3456 cartridges.

" " on former account, 2602

6058

Buth Marvin on former account, 6204

Net sent to court house 449 packs, 5388

Laura, on former account, 4250

Not sent to court house 344 packs, 4128

11,592

8378

Mary Ann, on former account, 5762

Not set to the court house 119 packs,
out of which I let Colonel Perley Howe
have 3 packs, 5028

10,790

Frederick, on former account, 708

Not sent to court house, 19 packs, 228

936

37,754
Mrs. Beach's two accounts, 2002

Made by sundry persons, 2182

Gave Litchfield militia, on alarm, 50

Let the regiment of Col. Wigglesworth have 300

Cartridges, No. 42,288

Overcharged in Mrs. Beach's account, 200

42,088

Woodruff, p. 47, says of this, '"the late Hon. Judge Wolcott,
who figures in the account as 'Frederick', and who Avas a boy at
the time, informed me a few years ago that he well remembered
the circumstance of the statue being sent there, and that a shed
was erected for the occasion in an apple orchard adjoining the
house, where his father chopped it up with the w(X)d axe, and the
'girls' had a frolic in running the bullets and making them up into
cartridges. . . .

•'The estimation in which lead was held in those days may be
imagined from the fact that the above account of cartridges is ftle<l
carefully among returns of troops, accounts of requisitions upon
the states, and issues of bills of credit".

In October of this year, Oliver Wolcott was reappointed a mem-
ber of the Continental Congress; and Drs. Keuben Smith and Seth
Bird were appointed by the Legislature to serve on a committee "to
examine all persons in this State that should be offered as Surgeons

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 8i

or Surgeons' Mates in the continental army or navy, and if found
qualified, to give them certificates". Andrew Adams was appointed
with others, to cause the arrest of all suspected persons, and those
dangerous to the liberties of America.

In December, the Legislature appointed Tapping Eeeve and
Lynde Lord on a committee "to rouse and animate the people", and
endeavor to procure the enlistment of volunteers for Washington's
army. A company was forthwith raised in Litchfield, and the fol-
lowing officers were commissioned: Nathaniel Goodwin, Captain;
Alexander Waugh, Lieutenant; and Ozias Goodwin, Ensign. At
the same session. Colonel Wolcott was promoted to the rank of
Brigadier General, and given the command of the Fourth Brigade.

This winter was a profoundly trying time for the American army.
Ml*. Ellsworth tells us that Fiske considered the attack on Trenton
the most critical point in Washington's career, for the terms of
service of the greater part of his men expired on Xew Year's Day,
and had the attack failed it would have been almost impossible to
fill his ranks again. "In that dark hour", says Mr. Ellsworth,
''New England did her duty and sent all the troops she could raise
to create a diversion in the neighborhood of New York. Judge
Tapping Reeve . . . was one of those who went . . . and servetl as
an officer until the news of the victories of Trenton and Prince-
ton brought assurance that Washington's army was safe for a time".

Through all changes of manners and modes of Avarfare, the
essential problems of war remain the same; armament, food, clotli-
ing and shelter for the army; means of raising money; provision
for the families of soldiers; regulation of prices; — our revolutionary
fathers knew them all.

"Early in 1777", says Kilbourne, p. 113, "orders were issued for
raising eight battalions in Connecticut for the continental service,
'to serve for three years or during the war'." (The necessity for
long enlistments had been brought home to the people). "Ninety
two soldiers for these battalions were ordered to be raised in Litch-
field". In March we find the town voting as follows:

"Voted that the families of such soldiers belonging to this town who
shall undertake in the Continental Army in the Connecticut Battalions, and
have not time and opportunity to lay out their money, and make proper pro-
vision for their families in their absence ; be supplied with necessaries at the
prices stated by law on reasonable request and lodging money therefore, . . .
agreeable to an order and Recommendation of the Hon. the Governor and
Council of Safety of the i8th March, 1777.

"Also, Voted strictly to adhere to and jointly and severally endeavor tft
enforce, support and maintain the Law regulating prices as recommended
in said proclamation".

In April, they further voted to pay out of the town treasury '*to
each soldier that should enlist for the term specified, the sum of
twelve pounds per annum", in addition to their pay from the State
or Federal Government.

82 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Town votes of a similar nature are recorded throughout the
war. In those days the town was far more than now the unit
of government, and the town vote regulated many things that are
now controlled by the State or Nation.

In this year of 1777 the people began to feel the inevitable
reaction from the first enthusiasm of the war, A letter, quoted by
Kilbourne, pp. 107-110, from Dr. Reuben Smith to Oliver Wolcott,
then attending Congress in Philadelphia, gives us a vivid picture
of the doubts and discouragements of the tima Kilbourne reminds
us that "considerable allowance must be made for the personal and
political prejudices of the writer"; and that "the insinuation in
regard to Major Welch" is "ungenerous and uncalled for"; that
aside from his active service in the field, that gentleman had been
again and again elected to public offices, at times when the "least
suspicion of Toryism" would not be tolerated. The letter follows:

Litchfield, 17 April, 1777.

Hon'd Sir — Your favor of the ist instant came to hand the 15th, and I
now sit down to give you the desired information, though ignorant of any-
proper conveyance.

At the Town Council in January, John Marsh, 3d, and Daniel Rowe,
were objected to as Innholders ; upon which Captain John, who is this year
one of the Selectmen, moved that Marsh might be called in, which was
agreed to. He accordingly came in, and acknowledged the several charges
in substance, and openly declared that in his opinion America had better
settle the dispute on the best terms they could obtain from Great Britain ;
that the further we proceeded, the deeper we should get in the mire, (his
own words,) and must finally submit. Captain John tried to help him out
by putting some questions which would admit of ambiguous answers ; but
the young man was too open and frank in his answers, and accordingly was
left out, as was Rowe. Captain Seymour and David Stoddard were put in
their room.

The latter end of January I joined the army under General Wooster,
and retreating soon after in a stormy night, was over fatigued, fell sick,
was carried up to Horseneck and there discharged, and returned home some-
time in February. . . .

I can't recollect that March produced anything very remarkable except
the struggle about the small-pox.

April is a month of great importance and expectation. Several appeared
by the suffrages to be candidates for election at the Freemen's Meeting.
Mr. Adams came in first; and, after many rounds, Mr. Strong just carried
it against Captain Bradley. Captain John Marsh fell much short of the
number I expected. Major Welsh, who for some time has appeared a cool
friend of the American cause(, was observed to have nearly all the tory
votes. So much for Deputies. The Constables for Litchfield were Lieu-
tenant Mason, (since dead,) Alexander Catlin, Briant and David Stoddard.
Lieutenant Mason was appointed in the winter service, was seized with a
pleurisy at DeLancey's Mills, (Westchester,) sent over to Rochelle, and
when we retreated from Fort Independence, was removed to Mamrock,
where he died the same day. His eldest son, who was with Captain Beebe
at Fort Washingftoui came home about the same time in a very miserable

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 83

condition, and is since dead. Captain Beebe and Lieutenant Jesse Grant
still remain in captivity. It was said, after our success at Trenton and
Princeton, that we were abundantly able to exchange all our prisoners; and
certain it is, that we have numbers in hand, and yet our people arq held
prisoners. Is there not somewhere a neglect? May these partial ills be
productive of universal good ? Has my honored friend any bright prospects ?
Has he any cordial for one almost in the Nadir of Despondency? Public
spirit and virtue exist with us only in idea. Almost every one is pursuing
his private gain, to the entire neglect of the public good. Our proportion
of the continental army, I believe, is not half completed. Men will not
enlist, and if drafted only for six weeks, (as has lately been the case^) they
will rather pay a fine of five pounds. Thirteen men were the other day
drafted in Captain Marsh's company to go to Peekskill and to be held but
six weeks after their arrival. Not one has gone or intends to go. This
town met last week and voted £12 premium for every one that should
enlist into the continental army for three years or during the war; but I
cannot learn that one man has enlisted since. This day orders came to
town from the Governor and Council of Safety to fill up the Eight Battalions
immediately, by drafting men out of the militia and alarm companies, till
the 1st of January; but it will not be done, as a fine of five pounds will
excuse from going.

Our money is continually depreciating. This week, John Collins sold
two yoke of oxen for £95, which might have been bought a twelve month
past for £20 per yoke. Every necessary article is continually rising in price,
which proves a fatal discouragement to men's engaging in the service; for
if they go, their families (say they) must unavoidably suflFer and starve, as
their bounty and pay will not procure them the necessary support.

Monday, 28th April. — Finding no opportunity of forwarding the fore-
going, direct, it has lain by until this time, and now send it to the Post Office
in Hartford with the following addition :

Intelligence was brought to town last Saturday afternoon, that twenty-
four Transports were come to a place called Compo, between Fairfield and
Norwalk, and that the troops were landing. About Lwo o'clock next morn-
ing, an Express came from New Milford, who informed that the troops
landed to the number of three thousand, with some light field-pieces, and
proceeded direct to Danbury, where they arrived without the least opposi-
tion on Saturday at two o'clock in the afternoon, took possession of our
stores and the town, which was said to be in flames when the Express came
away. The people with great spirit turned out immediately from all our
towns, but I fear to little purpose; for if they fired the town Saturday
afternoon, they will get on board their shipping before our people get down.
Last night advice was brought that the enemy was landing at New Haven
on Saturday night, but I imagine it to be only a feint in order to prevent
their retreat being cut off. We have heard nothing -from Danbury since the
departure of our people. The Tories are grown very insolent, but I believe
they will not dare attempt anything openly with us.

Mrs. Wolcott and family are well. Oliver is gone to Danbury. My
haste must apologize for abruptness, &c.

I am. Sir, Your Humble Servant,

REUBEN SMITH.

84 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

"Oliver" herein referred to is, of course, the younger Oliver
Wolcott, then seventeen years old, and a student at Yale. He was
in Litchfield at the time of the Alarm, and Kilbourne tells us, p. 110,
how awakened at night, he armed himself and set out, at once, with
his mother's charge, "to conduct like a good soldier".

Evidently Dr. Smith's pessimism concerning the spirit of the
people was unfounded, or else the historian Gibbs was misinformed;
for the latter tells us, that the fourteen men who left Litchfield
on this occasion, were "the last in Litchfield capable of hearing
arms".

Woodruft", pp. 39-40, quotes a second letter of Dr. Smith's, dateil
May 12th of this year, in which he writes more fully of the Alarm.

"Sunday morning, 27th April, about one o'clock, we were
alarmed; our people turned out spiritedly; came up with rear of
the enemy about eleven the next day, a little below Wilton Meeting
House, and pursued them aboard their ships. Paul Peck was killed
in the last attack on the enemy. Levi Peck, Thomas Peck's sou,
was wounded in the shoulder about the same time; in Wilton, Ozias
Goodwin was wounded in the arm, and Salmon Buel had one of his
thighs broken, and the other shot through with the same ball.

The infamous Daniel Griswold, came into the western part of
the Town, the morning before the alarm, and was there concealed
till Monday, and took off to join the ministerial army, David Kil-
bom, Benjamin Kilborn's son Cha's, Isaac Kilborn's son Abraham,
and Samuel Kilborn son to Giles Kilboru, Jonathan Smith, Jr.,
and his brother Elisha, (who was enlisted in the light horse.)
David Joy, Ephraim Bates, Benjamin Doolittle, Josiah Stone, and
John Davies' youngest son David, and one John Beach of Wood-
bury who lived at Josiah Stone's.

The Wednesday following they were taken, (except Benjamin
Dootlittle, and Charles Kilborn, who it is said were killed in
attempting to escape,) and were carried to Derby, where they were
tried by a Court Martial, and Griswold was sentenced to be hanged;
which sentence was executed the Monday following, at New Haven.
The rest were pardoned, upon their enlisting into the Continental
Army during the War. ..."

Of Paul Peck, alluded to in the Letter of Doct. Smith, it is
said, "he was the most expert hunter of the time in which he lived.
At the Danbury Alarm, he put his large Gun in order, and followed
the enemy to Compo, on their retreat, and took a station behind a
stone wall, and every shot told, until he was rushed upon by the
enemy, who took his gun from him and dashed his brains out with
it." He was killed April 28th, 1777, aged about seventy-five years.

Kilbourn tells us, p. Ill, that "Father Mills the eccentric clergy-
man of Torringford, wishing on one occasion to illustrate the cer-
tain and irrevocable doom of the wicked, told of a timid Berkshire
fox that started on a trip to the Sound", and "having safely passed
the snares, and hunters, and hounds, that beset his way, he became

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 85

careless, proud and self-conceited. 'He enters Fat Swamp at a
jolly trot, head and tail up, looking defiance at the enemies he has
left so far behind him. But O, the dreadful reverse: In the midst
of his haughty reverie, he is brought to a sudden and everlasting
stop IN ONE OF PAUL PECK'S TRAPS!'"

Of Griswold, Kilbourne says, p. 116, that he was reputed to
be "a young man of good character and energy, and was not unpopu-
lar with a large class of whigs. Perhaps, by the bloody code of war,
he ought to have suffered death as a traitor for enlisting soldiers for
the king's service; though it is a fact beyond dispute, that there
were among the king's troops, in that very contest, whole regiments
of *Ro3'al Americans', as they were styled- Many of the leading
whigs of Litchfield were open in their condemnation of the action
of the Court Martial in this instance, and the event probably did
not advance the republican cause in this town".

In June of this year, the town witnessed the passage of four
companies of Sheldon's Horse, under the leadership of Major Ben-
jamin Tallmadge, bound to reinforce General Washington at his
headquarters, at Morristown. Kilbourne suggests, p. 150, that it
was probably on this occasion that the troops attended public wor-
ship in the old Meeting House, and that Judah Champion offered
the prayer, before referred to, which is given in HoUister's History
of Connecticut, Vol. II, pp. 390:

"O Lord, we view with terror and dismay the enemies of Thy
holy religion. Wilt Thou send storm and tempest to toss them
upon the sea, and to overwhelm them in the mighty deep or to
scatter them to the uttermost parts of the earth. But, peradventure,
should any escape Thy vengeance, collect them together again, O
Lord! as in the hollow of Thy hand, and let Thy lightnings play
upon them. We do beseech Thee, moreover, that Thou do gird
up the loins of these Th}^ servants who are going forth to fight Thy
battles. Make them strong men, that 'one shall chase a thousand,
and two shall put ten thousand to flight'. Hold before them the
shield with which Thou wast wont in the old time to protect Thy
chosen people. Give them swift feet, that they may pursue their
enemies, and swords terrible as that of Thy destroying angel, that
they may cleave them down when they have overtaken them. Pre-
serve these servants of thine. Almighty God! and bring them once
more to their homes and friends, if Thou canst do it consistently
with Thine high purposes. If, on the other hand, Thou has decreed
that they shall die in battle, let Thy Spirit be present with them,
and breathe upon them, that they may go up as a sweet sacrifice into
the courts of Thy temple, where are habitations prepared for them
from the foundations of thq world".

Sheldon's Regiment of Horse, says Kilbourne, p. 128, "was
Washington's favorite corps, and continued to act under his imme-
diate direction till the Treaty of Peace was signed — constituting at
once his messengers, his body-guard, and his agents for the accom-

86 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

plisliinent of any enterprise, however desperate". Colonel Sheldon,
commander of the regiment, "had been for some twenty years a
resident of Litchfield, and his troops were raised almost exclusively
in this vicinity. Captains Moses Seymour, Stanton and Wads-
wori;h, of this town, commanded companies in this corps — Captain
Stanton being at the same time Paymaster of the Regiment. Major
Tallmadge was one of Sheldon's most efficient Majors".

Tallmadge is one of the most attractive and dashing figures of
our revolutionary history. He was later to establish himself in
Litchfield, and enter into business enterprise and public affairs with
the same adventurous enthusiasm with which he conducted himself
in the war. He always held a high place in the esteem of the
people. He joined the army early in 1776 and became a Captain
of Dragoons later in that year. His company was mounted entirely
on dapple-greys, and Kilbourne tells us, p. 150, that with their black
straps and bear-skin holster covers they "looked superbly". Their
commander was at this time a young man of twenty three. A
sketch of him by Colonel Trumbull, shows, under the plumed helmet
of the Dragoon, a high-bred sensitive face, clear-eyed, confident and
gallant. His service throughout the war fulfilled this promise.

During the summer of 1777, the depot at Litchfield was actively
employed in receiving and transmitting supplies. We can imagine
the bustle and excitement of the little town with the passage of
troops and supply trains. Kilbourne gives us, pp. 117-118, an
account of this activity. "On the 30th of June, Governor Trumbull
wrote to General Wolcott, informing him that a team would be
sent to Litchfield loaded with powder, lead and fiints, and request-
ing him to send a team to Salisbury for a load of cannon-shot, to
be forwarded to Hartford by returning teams. By a subsequent
record of the Council of Safety, it appears that on this occasion,
there were sent to Litchfield seventeen hundred pounds of gun-
powder, two thousand pounds of lead, one thousand flints, and three
hundred pounds of cannon-powder.

"On the 23rd of July following, an order was drawn on David
Trumbull, for twenty five pounds, five shillings and tenpence, in
favor of John and Daniel Dewey, 'for carting powder and lead from
Lebanon to Litchfield' ".

In the following month. New York appealed to New England
to come to their aid, and Dr. Goodwin tells us, p. 11, that "the com-
mittee of the town of Litchfield transmitted by return post on
August 4th, 1777, the following reply :

"Yours of the First Instant respecting the alarming Situation
of our northern affairs never reached us before this moment.
Surely, Gentlemen, we shall never be backward in affording every
Possible aid in our power for the Relief of the County of Albany.
We are not so narrow and Contracted as not to extend every assist-
ance as well to the Inhabatents of a sister state as to those of our
own; nor do we imagine that we our selfs can long be safe whilst

Fnini

iKXjA.M l.V TaLLMAIiG:-:

Portrait !■>■ Ralph l-'a.rl.:

Mrs. Bexjamix Tallmadge

From a Portrait by Ralph Earle

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 87

Desolation and Conquest over spread your State. In short our
Feelings are such that we would run every Hazzard, and risque
every danger, for you that we should for ourselves".

In August, also, according to Kilbourne, p. 118, "General Wol-
cott wrote to the Governor and Council, stating that he had ordered
all the effective men of Sheldon's Horse and Humphrey's regiment,
(who had not been called to duty under the recent act, and were
liable to be called out of the State), to march immediately to Peeks-
kill, well provided with arms, and with forty days' provisions. The
General's course was approved, and an order was directed to be
drawn on the State Treasurer, in his favor, for the sum of £1,000.
About the same time, Sheriff Lord was directed to procure from
the merchants of Litchfield county, for the use of the army, four
hogsheads of rum, six hogsheads of sugar, and two thousand pounds
of coffee, at a stipulated price. If the merchants refused to furnish
the goods at the price named, the Sheriff was ordered to take the
articles wherever he could find them, at the appraisal of two or
three judicious freeholders and to make return of his doings to the
Council.

"In September, Litchfield was established by the Council, as
the place of rendezvous for the Sixth Brigade, and Major Beebe was
stationed here as the recruiting officer for the Brigade.

"Late in the autumn of this year, a large proportion of the
military stores, taken at the capture of Bourgoyne, were deposited
here".

The capture of Bourgoyne brought new hope to the Americans.
One of the British officers, wounded at Saratoga, said, when he
heard the fate of the day: "Then the contest is no longer doubtful,
America will be independent. I have fought earnestly for my King
and Country, but the contest is ended". This officer was a prisoner
in the custody of Captain Moses Seymour, whose troop of horse
was in that memorable engagement.

Captain Seymour's account of the dinner given by the American
officers to Bourgoyne and his associates after the surrender is
recorded by Kilbourne, p. 158: "The utmost courtesy and good feel-
ing prevailed on the part of the principal officers, and the responses
to the sentiments given were hearty and enthusiastic. At length.
General Bourgoyne was called upon for a toast. Every voice was
for the moment hushed into the deepest attention, as he arose and
gave: 'America and Great Britain against the world!' The response
which followed may be imagined".

In spite of the success at the North, however, the army in Penn-
sylvania had suffered double defeat on the Brandywine and at
Germantown, and these losses were followed by the bitter winter
at Valley Forge. It was a dark day for the young nation. Neverthe-
less, the people were grimly determined to adhere to their cause. In
January, 1778, the town of Litchfield confirmed by vote the Articles
of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States.

88 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

In this winter we heur again of Tallniadge, who was stationed
with a detachmen of dragoons, as an advanced corjis of observation
between our army and that of the enemy. He wrote to Washington
constantly at this time of the need of money and the difficulty of
procuring the supplies necessary for his troops.

Later in 1778, he was transferred to service along the Sound,
and began his private correspondence with Washington and his
organization of an Intelligence Service, which he was to continue
throughout the war. His letters of this period which are pre-
served in the Litchfield Historical Society are very interesting,
showing the care and attention which he gave to detail, combined
with the imagination to conceive extended plans. He also shows
a consideration for his subordinates remarkable in so young an
officer.

Throughout the year 1779, he wrote nearly every month, arrang-
ing to receive and pass on intelligence through men posted behind
the British lines. A code was established and some sort of special
ink, requiring a stain, Avas used. Early in this year, he spoke of
the possible end of the war: there Avere certain significant move-
ments of the enemy; Tories were selling their land. In September,
he conducted a successful raid on Lloyd's Neck, to break up a band
of freebooters, who from this shelter near a strong British post
had been plundering the Connecticut shore. In spite of the success
of this particular raid and the capture of nearly the entire band of
marauders, the plundering of the coast was to be an annoyance till
the end of the war, and Tallmadge was continually combatting it.

The hope of peace held in the early part of 1779 was not to be
realized; and in 1780 we find Tallmadge still conducting operations
on the Sound.

Meanwhile, the army at Morristown was in great distress after
a severe winter, and Washington appealed to Governor Trumbull
for aid. His messenger was detained but a short time, when Gov-
ernor Trumbull placed a sealed letter in his hand, directed to Gen-
eral Washington, announcing that on a certain day he would
receive at Newburgh, by a wagon train from Hartford, two hundred
barrels of flour, one hundred barrels of beef, and one hundred bar-
rels of pork. Washington's comment on opening the letter was:
"If the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing
be". And when the provisions arrived on the day appointed, he
said: "No other man than Governor Trumbull could have procured
them, and no other state than Connecticut would have furnished
them". This train passed through Litchfield, where additional sup-
plies were obtained. Colonel Henry Champion, the father of the
Kev. Judah Champion and of Mrs. Julius Deming, accompanied the
train, in charge of a drove of cattle, which were tolled across the
Hudson by the side of small boats.

In Litchfield, in this year, the town did everything possible
to encourage recruiting and to help the army. It is interesting to
see the effort made to neutralize for the soldier the high cost of

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 89

living, by a town vote to "make good to hiin his Forty Shillings per
Month, by such addition to the Pay he shall receive from the State
or the United States as shall make said Pay sufficient to purchase
as much Provisions as Forty Shillings would have done in 1774".

Besides the visits at various times of Lafayette, Kochambeau
and other generals, those of General Washington stand out in the
traditions of Litchfield. In September, 1780, he arrived here on
his way from Hartford to West Point, and according to Gibbs was
entertained at General Wolcott's house. The following morning
he proceeded westward. It was on his arrival at West Point from
this journey that the historical breakfast occurred, at which the
treason of Benedict Arnold was revealed. On the evening before,
September 23, 1780, near Northcastle, Major Tallmadge was busily
engaged in unraveling the mystery of Arnold's associate, John
Andre, who in the guise of John Anderson had been captured by
three militiamen. Tallmadge discovered the identity of Andre and
suspected the treachery of Arnold. If his recommendations to
Colonel Jameson, his superior officer, had been acted upon, Arnold
would never have escaped.

Andre remained a prisoner in Tallmadge's custody until the
time of his execution. During this brief period a warm attach-
ment sprang up between the two young men. Years later Tall-
madge wrote: 'I became so deeply attached to Major Andre, that
I can remember no instance where my affections were so fully
absorbed in any man. When I saw him swinging under the gibbet,
it seemed for a time as if I could not support it".

Shortly after this tragedy, Tallmadge was on duty again along
the Sound; and in November he made a successful attack on Fort
George on the south side of Long Island. In 17S1 he actively con-
tinued his Intelligence Service, and secured plans of the enemy's
works at various points. He also arranged for Count Eochambeau,
then at Xewport, to communicate with the secret agents and to use
their services, for which the Count was to provide the necessary
money. On May 2, 1781, Tallmadge wrote to Washington from
Wethersfield concerning this latter arrangement. On May 18th Wash-
ington made the following entry in his diary: '"Set out this day for
an intervicAv at Wethersfield with the Count de Kochambeau and
Admiral Barras. Reached Morgan's Tavern, 43 miles from Fish-
skill Landing, after dining at Col. Vanderberg's May 19th.

Breakfasted at Litchfield, dined at Farmington, and lodged at Weth-
ersfield at the house of Mr. Joseph Webb".

Whether Washington visited Litchfield a third time is uncer-
tain ; but on one of his visits he lodged at the Gould house on North
Street, then occupied as a tavern by Samuel Sheldon. Captain
Salmon Buel remembered going early in the morning, with about
fifty of his school fellows, to see the renowned commander on this
occasion. "A company of horse-guards was drawn up before the
house waiting for him; but, as he was not ready to start, the
guards rode down North Street and for a considerable distance out

90 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

West Street, returning in a short time to the Gould House, The
General now came out, mounted his horse, and the cavalcade pro-
ceeded down South Street, perhaps to enable him to pay his respects
to General Wolcott". (Kilbourne, p. 130).

During the last three years the center of military operations
had shifted to the south, and it was there in this year 1781 that
the decisive battle of the war was fought. "When Cornwallis was
forced to retreat toward the north, after his engagement at Guilford
Court House, North Carolina, he took a position at Yorktown.
LaFayette had been sent by Washington against him and he held
the British in check while the grand coup of the Avar Avas accom-
plished. The commander-in-chief, with his army from the High-
lands of the Hudson, including several Connecticut regiments, was
making a feint as if to attack New York; his enemy's weak position
on the York peninsula developed — the French fleet Avas investing it
on one side — and Washington, by a swift movement, marched south-
ward, and on the fourth anniversary of Bourgoyne's surrender, our
Litchfield county men heard the British bands play 'The World
Turned Upside Down', as the army of Cornwallis laid down its
arms". (W. W. Ellsworth: Semicentennial Address before the
Litchfield Historical Society).

It is part of the tragic necessity of war, and the suspicions
engendered by it, that the machinery once set in motion cannot
easily be brought to a stop; so, though the surrender of Cornwallis
meant that American independence was assured, a state of war con-
tinued, through the succeeding year and well into 1783. In the
spring of 1782, the town of Litchfield voted to raise recruits by a
sort of selective draft, decided on in 1781, by which the town was
divided into classes, each class being responsible for procuring a
certain number of recruits. In March of this year three citizens
of the tOAvn were assessed "on examination by the civil authorities
and selectmen, agreeable to law, for each a son gone to the enemy".

In the mean time, there Avas still a certain amount of unrest
along the Sound; and Tallmadge was engaged in communicating
intelligence, and through the first months of 1783 reported frequent
skirmishes between British and American small craft on those
waters. On March 29th he received rumors of peace, Avhich were
confirmed two days later. He immediately requested permission to
be among the first to enter New York, in order to protect the Secret
Service men, whose position, by reason of its necessary concealments,
would be misunderstood by patriots more openly engaged.

It is a tribute to the good sense and good feeling of the people,
that a nimiber of British soldiers became residents of Litchfield
after the Avar, and some of them died here leaving families. There
was also the deserter Kichard Morris, who with his brother Kobert,
left the British ranks to serve with the Americans under Captain
Beebe. John Gatta, a Hessian, unAvillingly impressed in the King's
forces, who had deserted in New York and served in a New York
regiment, also came subsequently to Litchfield, Avhere he lived for

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 91

fifty years and married the granddaughter of Timothy Collins,

Litchfield was quick to begin the readjustments permitted by
peace and to return to normal lifa

In October, 1783, the town voted to adjust the claims of the non-
commissioned officers and soldiers who had served in the eight bat-
talions of Connecticut, and to whom a bonus had been previously
granted by vote. This task, with the depreciation of currency, must
have been a formidable one. An example of the light in which
Continental money was considered is given in Kilbourne's account,
pp. 160-161, of the experience of Elisha Mason, the last of Litch-
field's Revolutionary soldiers. "On one occasion, at the expiration
of a term of service, he was discharged on the Hudson, and paid
off in Continental currency. Starting homeward on foot, he reached
Danbury, where he spent the night. In the morning, on attempt-
ing to settle his bill, his Continental money was refused. He offered
larger and still larger sums, and finally tendered bills to the
amount of forty dollars, for lodging and meals; but the landlord
refused to take the money on any terms. Mr. Mason was finally
compelled to pawn his rifle to cancel his indebtedness. As his wages
were but eight dollars per month, he thus offered the avails of five
months' services for his keeping for twelve hours.

A sufferer from the depreciation of the currency, on a larger
scale, was Julius Deming, who had served throughout the war as
Commissary officer. At one time, when money was urgently needed,
for the purchase of cattle, he advanced to Colonel Champion, his
superior officer, four Loan Office Certificates for $400 in cash,
amounting in all to $1,600. Besides this his commissions from
the Government, on purchases made by him aggregating $1,493,209,
amounted to $28,247.96, which represented his income during three
years of service. When the day of payment came, and he received
Continental currency worth 1 to 70 or 72, the amount of his loss
can easily be figured, as his commissions, large though they appear,
amounted to less than half of his actual loan to Colonel Champion.

In the latter part of 1780, Mr. Deming came to Litchfield, and in
1790 built the house on North Street known as "the Lindens". In
1784, Major Talbnadge had established himself in his house on the
other side of the street, bought two years before. Here the two
distinguished men, long to be associated in business enterprises,
enjoyed the years of prosperity in the "Golden Age" of Litchfield's
history, to which each contributed so much.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE GOLDEN AGE.

The Eev. Dan Huntington, who was pastor in Litchfield from
1798 to 1809, wrote of the town as it was when he first came here:
"A deUghtful vUlage, on a fruitful hill, richly endowed with schools
both professional and scientific, with its venerable governors and
judges, with its learned lawyers, and senators, and representatives
both in the national and state departments, and with a population
enlightened and respectable, Litchfield was now in its glory".

We have indeed reached the golden age of our town, the years
following the Eevolutionary War and the first three or four decades
of the Nineteenth Century, an amazing period for a small village,
not so much because of the inhabitants of prominence at the time,
as because of their achievements, because of the pioneer work they
did in so many different directions. Here, as we so proudly remem-
ber, was the first Law School, the only one at that day conducted in
the English language in any country; here too was the first school for
the higher education of girls in America; here were the first mani-
festations of the temperance movement; here were taken the first
steps in the work of foreign missions; here were printed the first
Reports of law cases; here were the beginnings of the spirit which
led to the increased independence of married women under the Law;
here were conducted some of the pioneer industrial experiments in
the state. From the intellectual leadership of the Law School to
the pioneer manufacture of elastic suspenders is a long interval,
which Litchfield filled with energy and competence, until about 1840
the valleys throughout Connecticut conquered the hilltops and left us
only the memories of our achievements.

But, tlio social, intellectual and commercial leadership of Litch-
field was attained under circumstances so unusual, that the story
reads like a romance. Still secluded from the great world of the
cities, without mails or roads adapted to passenger traffic, with its
rigorous climate and the interminable hills, Litchfield won its way
forward step by step. It became a pioneer in so many and such
important directions because its population were pioneers. There
were no drones in Litchfield; the same energy that was converting
the forests into meadows was being exercised by a few leading
spirits towards converting the rude settlement at the center into
a polished and noteworthy society, in which Washington and Lafay-
ette could be received as equals. It was the triumph of the puritan
spirit, brave, unyielding, severe to itself and just to others; if we
think that it was a religion too concentrated upon doctrine and too

The Jedediah Stroxg ^[II.ESTn^'E at Ei.m Ridge, 1787

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

hard upon the individual, must we not yet confess that it made
Litchfield within a hundred years a place looked up to far and wide.
Litchfield was a town of happy gaiety as well as of severe learning
and work, it had every phase of life represented, except that of
scandal. It was sometimes called a staid old town and a prim vil-
lage, but those who called it such are quite forgotten now, while
the memory of the golden age will always be fresh.

Apart from the indomitable character of the settlers, two chief
elements entered into the success of the town. The first was the
formation of Litchfield County with the importance given to our
legal life by the sessions here of such frequent Courts ; and the other
was the capture of New York by the British in the Revolution,
which threw all the business of the War onto the northern highway
from Boston and Hartford to West-Point passing through our vil-
lage. When Washington, at some crisis, would call upon Governor
Trumbull for help. Brother Jonathan never failed him and the help
and supplies would either be sent on forthwith from the stores in
Litchfield or they would pass through the town from points further
to the east. Every man in Litchfield was in the War; when the
last fourteen men were sent to help in the defence of Danbury they
included the boys of sixteen and the old men of seventy five. Happily
no such need has ever come again to our country and our town ; but
it was the need that made our town, in the sense of its prosperity.
With the close of the War achievement came with a great rush, that
swept before it all the obstacles of location and all the handicaps
of our belated start. It may have been another half a dozen years
before the government would give the town a post office, but the
town was starting its own newspaper and its own Law School within
one year, it was starting its own trade and training its own men to
become Governors and chief justices for the state, and Senators for
the United States.

A half mile from the center, on the Bantam Road, at Elm Ridge,
is still standing the old white marble stone, which reads:

30 Miles to

Hartford.

102 Miles to

New York.

J. Strong,
A. D. 1787.

Jedediah Strong, as we shall see, was not a citizen representative
of Litchfield at its best ; but he had the Litchfield spirit. The only
thing that separated Litchfield from other cities was distance, which
in turn could always be expressed in miles.

When it became apparent that a government post-office would
be slow in coming, it was local enterprise that decided to hasten the
day by the establishment of its own office, so that in January, 1791,
we find the Monitor issuing the following advertisement:

94 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

"Post-Oflfice Establislunent. The Public, particularly Gentle-
men in the Town and Vicinity of Litchfield, having some time
lamented the want of a regular and weekly Intercourse with the City
of Hartford, by a Post immediately from this Town — are respect-
fully assured, that a Post in conjunction with Mr. Isaac Trow-
bridge, the Eider from New York, will start from this Office for
Hartford regularly, once a week, commencing on Monday next, the
31st inst. This Establishment has met the Sanction and Concur-
rence of Mr. Trowbridge; and the Undertakers will be subject to the
same Kegulation and Responsibility required by the Postmaster
General. Consequently, every Duty annexed to the Business will
be strictly and pointedly observed.

"And that the Public may be better accomodated, and derive a
safe Repository for their Letters, &c., a Post-Office is opened at
Collier's Printing Office — at which place all Despatches, to be trans-
mitted through the medium of either post, must be deposited. Dur-
ing the Winter, (till the 1st of May next,) the Post from New York
will ride once a fortnight, and arrive on Tuesday evenings; com-
mencing the 5th of the ensuing month. Those who have Business
or Letters are requested to leave their directions at this Office, for
New York on Tuesday, for Hartford on Saturday Evenings, preced-
ing the days of departure; as the Posts will positively start at an
early Hour. Letters will be received at this Office for any part of
the United States".

The establishment of this private Post gave the necessary spur
to the Government, which in a year opened a Post Office in the
town. This formed one link on the Post Road from New York to
Hartford, passing through White Plains, Northcastle, Salem, Pound
Ridge, Ridgefield, Danbury, New Milford, Litchfield, Harwinton and
Farmington. At first the Litchfield office was the only one in the
County, and it is interesting to read the advertisements of unclaimed
letters, like the following, which shows only six letters unclaimed
for the whole county for a period of three months : either the number
of letters was very small or the interest in obtaining them was so
great that every one was diligently called for:

"List of Letters at the Post Office in Litchfield last quarter:
Noble Bostwick, New Milford; Justus Cook, Northbury; David Fan-
cher, Watertown; Reuben and John Miner, Winchester; Jonathan
Werden, Salisbury. B. Tallmadge, P. M. Litchfield, Nov. 1, 1792".

"Within the half-dozen years next succeeding this date", Kil-
bourne, p. 169, "commenced what may be characterized as the Era
of Turnpikes and Stage-Coaches, which continued in its glory for
something over forty years. During this period, very much was
done to improve the routes of travel and to facilitate communication
of town with toAvn. Turnpike Companies were organized in all parts
of the State, and turnpike stock was regarded by capitalists as a
safe, profitable and permanent investment. The Litchfield and New
Milford Turnpike Company was incorporated in October, 1797;
the Litchfield and Harwinton Company, in October, 1798; and the

THl-: HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 95

Litchfield and Canaan Company, in May, 1799. Then followed
Straits' Turnpike, from Litchfield to New Hav«i, the Litchfield and
Cornwall, the Litchfield and Torrington, and the Litchfield and Ply-
mouth Turnpikes, — so that, in due time, it became almost impossible
to get into or out of our town without encountering a toll-gate. Four-
horse Stage Coaches gradually came into use from the time that
Turnpikes became general; and ultimately Congress enacted that
the U. S. Mails should be thus conveyed on all the principal routes.
Litchfield now became an important center of travel. Daily lines
of Mail Stages were established between this village and Hartford,
New Haven, Norwalk, Poughkeepsie and Albany".

"There is also a turnpike", Morris, p. 93, "on the eastern bound-
ary, running contiguously to Mattatuck or Waterbury river, uniting
with the Straits turnpike at Salem, and running to Massachusetts
line, through Winchester and Colebrook. As the rivers and rivu-
lets are small, the Bridges are not worthy of a particular descrip-
tion. The expense of keeping them in repair amounts to between
two and three hundred dollars annually".

Mrs. E. N. Vanderpoel has preserved a number of the advertise-
ments of the Stages in her Chronicles of a Pioneer School, including
a long one in verse, pp. 22-23. We will only quote one of these, in
which the emphasis is laid upon no night travelling ; One doubts its
advantages on reading further that the stage leaves at 3 A. M. No
wonder the passengers used to sit up all night for fear of being left
behind, especially when they were school girls going on their vaca-
tions :

"New Arrangement. Litchfield, New Milford, Danbury and
Norwalk Mail Stage. This Stage leaves Josiah Park's Hotel, Litch-
field, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 3 in the morning,
passing thro' New Preston, New Milford and Brookfield and arrives
at Danbury to lodge: leaves Danbury next morning for Norwalk
and arrives in time for passengers to take the steam boat for N. York.
No Night Travelling. Fare through to New York 3.25. Ketuming
Takes the Norwalk passengers at Danbury on Monday, Wednesday
and Friday morning, and arrives in Litchfield the same day. For
seats apply at the Bar at Park's Hotel, Litchfield, H. Barnes, Pro-
prietor, November 10, 1829".

A special importance was given to taverns by the increase of
Stage Coaches, as the transient business which followed was added
to the regular visitors coming to the town. Besides these, there
were the scholars at the two schools, sometimes over a hundred from
other places, far and near, to be cared for, so that the houses which
were not used as Inns, were often converted into boarding houses,
and almost every house took in at least one boarder.

Some of the taverns were specially successful and popular.
There was Grove Catlin's Hotel, built about 1800, and later con-
verted into the Mansion House. This remained an Hotel till the fire
of 1886, and stood on the present site of Crutch & Marley's Drug
Store. It figures prominently in Plate 26, and in Plate 27 is shown

96 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

one of the typical old village scenes, the preparation of the annual
Mansion House wood-pile. The logs were hauled in by teams, and
then a considerable number of men were employed to saw up the
pile, all at one time. For some years the pile used to stand out on
the street.

The house now owned by the Phelps House Corporation on East
Street, next but one to the corner of North Street, was built by John
Collins in 1782. He was a son of Timothy Collins, but he evidently
thought that keeping a tavern would be more profitable than follow-
ing in his father's footsteps in the church, and he opened the house
as an Inn from the beginning. The bar was in the south west front
room, with the ball room directly overhead.

In 1787, David Buell built the present Phelps' Tavern. This
popular and well-known hostelry is to-day probably the oldest Hotel
in point of continuous service now standing in the County, if not
in the State. A'^ery few count ty liotels have entertained so many
distinguished men and women. As originally built the entire top
floor was a ball-room, in which was given the famous Ball to Lafay-
ette in 1824. A fuller description of this room will be found in the
chapter on Amusements. The tavern was sold to John Phelps,
under whose regime it first became so well known.

The house on the east side of South Street, now owned by Mrs.
Esther T. Champlin, was built by Benjamin Hanks in 1780. It was
first used as an Hotel by Josiah Parks, in the late 20's. George
Bolles later kept a tavern there, and built the addition to the south.
Mr. Wadhams of Goshen was the last person who continued it as an
hotel, and it passed into the possession of A. C. Smith in the early
50's. Mr. Smith made the division between the north and south
sections.

On North Street, a famous hostelry was Sheldon's Tavern, now
the residence of John P. Elton. It is the second oldest house now
standing in the Borough. It was built in 1760 by Elisha Sheldon,
who came to Litchfield in 1753 with several other residents of Lyme,
including Lynde Lord and Reynold Marvin. Judge Sheldon was
Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1754 to 1761,
when he was elected a member of the Council at Hartford. He
served in this position till his death in 1779. On his death, his
son Samuel Sheldon converted the house into a tavern. It was pur-
chased by Uriah Tracy, who made it his home till his death in 1807.

The first Court-House was built in 1752, and stood in the center
of the present Center Park, between the Church and the School. The
second Court-House was built on the site of the present Court-House
in 1797. Julius Deming acted for the town in its construction and
the contract was awarded to Alexander and Moses Catlin. The
contract and plans for its erection are preserved by the Litchfield
Historical Society. It is described in the contract "to be 40 feet
in front, 60 feet deep and 25 feet posts, with a flat roof to rise 1-5 or
2-9 with four coliunns in front supporting a peddiment & a Cupola".

The School -house was built in 1732, There had been, at first.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 97

:i good deal of discussion as to whether the Center School should be
on Litchfield Hill or on Chestnut Hill, but once the matter was set-
tled it appears to have given no further trouble. In the days of
the golden age, the town had been divided into school districts,
which at one time reached the surprising number of 28, each with
its own small school. And in addition there were a variety of
private schools. In 1798, the care of the Schools passed into the
hnnds of the First School Society, a body which remained in charge
until 1855, when the management was taken over again directly by
the town. The Society also had charge of the Burying Grounds.
It was directed by many of the prominent men of the town, in the
form of a Committee, Avhich probably corresponded very closely to
the present School Board. On this committee we find the names of
Lyman Beecher, Benjamin Tallmadge, Frederick Wolcott, Julius
Deming, ]Moses Seymour, LTriah Tracy, and many others. Their great
concern, at least in the earlier years, was to obtain enough books
that were alike.

For a time, about 1798, there was a Public Library, and some-
what later a Litchfield Lyceum, with lectures. Debates and weekly
meetings.

Such, very briefly, was the setting in which the years of the
Golden Age were to unfold, as we will now trace in a series of chap-
ters dealing with its several distinct aspects.

CHAPTEE IX.

THE LITCHFIELD LAW SCHOOL.

As we look back to the days of the Litchfield Law School, 1784-
1833, it stands out as the most important single feature in the History
of our town. The picture we have of it in our minds is likely,
however, to be somewhat fragmentary. The outer side of the pic-
ture, what we call the picturesque side, is apt to dwarf the inner
meaning of this remarkable achievement. We are likely to have
in mind the charming account of the students' life left us in the
Personal Memories of E. D. Mansfield, pp. 126-128:

"We bi'eakfasted from seven to eight in the morning, and at
nine went to the lecture-room to hear and take notes of Judge
Gould's lecture. The founder of the Litchfield Law School was
Judge Tapping Keeve, and, if tradition is correct, few better men
have ever lived, and scarcely any one was then better known to the
bar. He was the author of a Treatise on Domestic Relations, which the
la^vyers admired, but said was not law, on account, I believe, of its
leaning too much to women's rights, a fault which would not be
found with it in this day. At the time I arrived in Litchfield, 1823,
Judge Reeve had given up the law school to Judge Gould, who had
been his partner, and he soon after died. He was a man rather
noted for eccentricities. After the death of his first Avife, he mar-
ried his housekeeper, a most respectable woman, however, dis-
tinguished for piety and benevolence. He was quite absent minded,
and one day he was seen walking up North Street, with a bridle
in his hand, but without his horse, which had quietly slipped out
and walked off. The Judge calmly fastened the bridle to a post,
and walked into the house, oblivious of any horse. It w as under the
teaching of Judge Reeve that such men as John C. Calhoun and John
M. Claj'ton, of Delaware, were law students. The school was now
under the sole care of Judge Gould. At nine o'clock we students
walked to the lecture-room, with our note-books under our arms. We
had desks, with pen and ink, to record the important principles and
authorities. The practice of Judge Gould was to read the prin-
ciple from his own manuscript twice distinctly, pausing between,
and repeating in the same manner the leading cases. Then we had
time to note down the principle and cases. The remarks and illus-
trations we did not note. After the lecture we had access to a law
library to consult authorities. The lecture and references took
iibout two hours. Those of us who were in earnest, of whom I was
one, immediately returned home, and copied out into our lecture-
books ;ill the principles and cases. Mj^ lecture-books made five

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 99

Tolumes. The lectures, the references, and the copying took me, on
an average, from nine o'clock until three or four o'clock, with the
intermission of near an hour for dinner. Five to six hours a day
employed in this manner was my regular work at Litchfield, and
very seldom was a day missed. At four o'clock in the, afternoon I
was generally at leisure, and that was usually employed in walking
or riding, sometimes in visiting. We prolonged our rides in simi-
mer time, having taken an early tea, into the starlit shades of
night. In the long days of summer no candles were lit in the
farm-houses of Connecticut When the deep twilight came, every
family had gone to rest as completely as the chickens to their roosts;
but when the dawn of day came, they were up ; and when we lazy
students were at breakfast, they had done hours of work. Such
were the Connecticut farmers of that day".

These happy days of study, under circumstances unequalled at
that time, the distinguished men who then crowded our streets, (men,
rather, who were to be distinguished in the years to be) , the kindly,
lovable figure of Tapping Reeve, and the more serious Gould, made
the Law School the prominent feature of the town's life, unless we
give precedence to the charm and beauty of the girls' school. Mrs.
William Curtis Noyes has described the scene as an eye-witness,
(Vanderpoel, p. 28) : "Imagine these now quiet streets with red
coaches rattling through them, with signs of importer, publisher,
goldsmith, hatter, etc., hanging on the shops Avith young men arriv-
ing on horseback to attend the law school and divide their attention
between their studies of the law and studies of the pretty pupils of
the Female Academy. Then there were some gay bloods from the
South so much at home in the town that they disported themselves
in pink gingham frock coats!"

We will return again to this picturesque side of the Law School ;
but first it is important to try and summarize the real meaning of
its achievement. To do so, we must go back to a survey of the
legal practices before the Revolution, and see just where the study
of law came into the general plan. Taking the country as a whole,
the law then occupied a very different position from what it does at
the present day. There was much less wealth, proportionately: so
much less, that it is hard for us to realize the difference. In con
sequence, there was much less litigation of a strictly business char-
acter. On the other hand, the body of the law was much less defined ;
there were no law reports, till the day of our own Ephraim Kirby,
1789; Constitutional Law, naturally, did not exist; and the interpre
tations of the Common Law were the subject of much difference of
opinion. Even more than to-day, the success of a lawyer depended
on his individuality, and the roll-call of the lawyers of the County at
the time, as given for instance in the Centennial Address of Judge
Church, 1851, pp. 54-59, shows an aggregation, the average merit of
whom is amazing when we take into account the difference in the
population of the County as a whole and the difference in wealth.
Our concern is only with the lawyers of the township.

100 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Our most distinguished lawyer at the period of the War, was
Andrew Adams, He was born in Stratford, 1736, and came to Litch-
field in 1764. He was one of our Representatives to the General
Assembly, 1776-1781, after which date he became a member of Con-
gress. In May, 1793, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Superior
Court of the State, in which office he died, November 27, 1797. Of
him, Morris wrote, p. 110 : "As a lawyer, few exceeded him ; especially
in managing causes before a jury. He was an able judge". The
Monitor mentioned it as a sad coincidence that he and Governor
Oliver Wolcott Sr., the two highest dignitaries of the State, residing
on the same street of the same village, were lying at the point of
death at the same time. Governor Wolcott survived his distin-
guished neighbor only four days, dying on December 1, 1797. (Bench
i\nc\ Bar, p. 217).

Eeynold Marvin came to Litchfield from Lyme in 1751, and was
appointed King's Attorney in 1704. He was a distinguished lawyer,
but the coming on of the War led him to resign his office, and there
is no record that he remained in practice. His sympathies appear
to have been strongly with the cause of Independence. He died
in 1802. Another temporarih' successful lawyer, Jedwliah Strong,
who is mentioned elsewhere, also died in 1802.

John Allen, who is also mentioned elsewhere, was born 1763 and
died in Litchfield in 1812. He was a member of the Council and of
the Supreme Court of Errors of the State and member of the Fifth
Congress.

Isaac Baldwin, who came to Litchfield from Milford, and mar-
ried a daughter of Timothy Collins, was an active la^v^^er for many
years i>rior to his death in 1805. He was County Clerk forty two
years. Town Clerk thirty one years. Clerk of the Probate Court
twenty nine years, not to speak of some ten terms in the General
Assembly and other services.

To this distinguished company, in 1772, came Tapping Reeve.
He was the son of the minister at Brookhaven, Long Island, where
he was born in 1744. He was a graduate of Princeton, 1763.

He not only proved himself a successful lawj'er from the first,
but a striking personality. The word striking is perhaps mislead-
ing, for there was nothing obtrusive about him. And yet it is cor-
rect, for he won affection, interest, sympathy, without effort. Men
liked to be with him. Years later, Lynmn Beech er exclaimed of him,
(Autobiography, p. 216) : "Oh Judge Reeve, what a man he was!
When I get to heaven, and meet him there, what a shaking of hands
there will be!"

"The rules of court, at this time, in Connecticut, required as a
condition of admission to the bar, two years of study with a practic-
ing lawyer in the state, by those who had been graduated at a col-
lege, and three years by all who had not been". (Simeon E. Baldwin,
Great American Lawyers, James Gould, 1909, p. 460).

It is not to be wondered at that many young men were coming
to Litchfield, and to all parts of Litchfield County, for these two

Tm'I'IM, I\h\ k

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD loi

years of study. So, in 1780, we find Noah Webster, of the Dictionary,
coming to Litchfield to study with Jedediah Strong.

Another young law student was Ephraim Kirby, who studied
his two years with Reynold Marvin, and afterwards married the
daughter of his teacher. Kirby was born in Litchfield in 1756. He
was a man active in body and in intellect. After being admitted to
the bar, he took a prominent part in local political affairs. He was a
democrat. He represented Litchfield a dozen or more times in the
General Assembly. On the election of Jefferson to the Presidency
in 1801, "Col. Kirby was appointed supervisor of the national revenue
for the State of Connecticut. Upon the acquisition of Louisiana
the President appointed him a Judge of the then newly organized
territory of New Orleans. Having accepted the station, he set out
for New Orleans, but died on the way, aged 47 years". (Bench and
Bar, p. 170). He is remembered especially as the compiler of the
first Law Reports, which he published under the title: Reports of
Cases Adjudged in the Superior Court, from the year 1785 to 1788.
The manuscript of this epoch making work is now in the Litchfield
Historical Society. It was the model on which the states of Con-
necticut and Massachusetts based the Reports they published a year
or two later, which have since then been universally followed.

The majority of young law students, more and more, drifted to
Tapping Reeve; and then they stopped drifting, and came long dis-
tances purely to be under his influence.

Among the first was Aaron Burr, his own brother-in-law, whose
sister Sally Burr he had married before coming to Litchfield. She
was the daughter of President Burr of Princeton, where Tapping
Reeve had first met her. Aaron Burr studied in the Reeve office till
the War broke out, and he was a frequent visitor in Litchfield after-
wards. Plere he met Mrs. Theodosia Prevost, whom he afterwards
married.

The most distinguished of these early students was Uriah Tracy,
who represented Connecticut in the United States Senate from 1800
until his death in 1807. He was born in Norwich, 1754, and gradu-
ated at Yale in 1778. He studied with Tapping Reeve in 1780 and
was admitted to the bar the next year. He was a Major-General
in the War, and Representative in Congress from 1793 until he
became Senator. When in Litchfield he lived on North Street, in
the house built 1760 by Col. Elisha Sheldon, from whom he bought
it. At his death it passed to his son-in-law. Judge Gould, from
whose estate, in turn, it was bought by Professor James M. Hoppin;
it is now owned by John P. Elton.

Uriah Tracy, such is fame, is now remembered chiefly for a
couple of repartees. "Few have had more wit, or used it more
pleasantly", said James Morris of him ; but others describe the sting
of his witticisms as dreaded by his adversaries.

Much discussion has been aroused concerning one of his sayings
and to whom it referred. I quote it from Mansfield, (p. 124) : "He
was standing on the steps of the Capitol, which you know looks

102 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

down Pennsylvania avenu«|^when a drove of mules was coming up.
Randolph, who was standing by him, said: 'There, Tracy, are some
of your constituents'. 'Yes, sir', said Tracy, 'they are going to
Virginia, to keep school'." Mellowed by a hundred and twenty
years, such a stoi*y becomes a classic; and it is entirely proper to
debate whether the retort was at the expense of Randolph, or of
Rhett of South Carolina, or of the Representative from North Caro-
lina, or from Georgia. Each has its advocates. Of the seventeen
times the story has been noticed in the preparation of this book, avc
find the advantage inclines slightly to Virginia, with North Caro-
lina a close second.

As the years passed and the number of his students increased,
the change in Tapping Reeve's method of instruction became more
marked; but it would be difficult to say exactly at what moment
the Law School as such began. The date usually accepted is 1784;
though, in his Funeral Sermon, p. 10., Ljrman Beecher says that he
commenced regular lectures in 1782. The date is not important;
the important thing is the revolution in the method of instruction.
Crovernor Baldwin styles these lectures as constituting not only the
first Law School in America ; but he adds, p. 455, that no other then
existed "In any English speaking country, for the Inns of Court
had long ceased to be seats of serious instruction and the 'schools'
of Oxford and Cambridge were little but a form".

The Law School made an immediate appeal. The Revolution
left many young men in search of work, as every large war has
dona Trade was at a low ebb, and many turned to the law which
was already overstocked. The Law School made it easier and
cheaper to get an excellent legal education than could be obtained
elsewhere, and the students came not only from all parts of Con-
necticut, but in due course from every state in the Union. The
reputation of the students who went out from the School and the
personality of Tapping Reeve added to the magnetic power of the
institution. Connecticut itself felt the effect of the School the
most; the proportion of lawyers grew out of keeping with their
numbers in other states, and several of our best men began to go
into other parts of the country. Governor Baldwin says that in
1798 there were 120 practising lawyers in the State, and adds the
amusing opinion of Jedediah Morse, (American Universal Geogra-
phy, 1796, Vol. L, pp. 453, 463), that, although these all found
employment and support, "it was really because the people of the
state were of a peculiarly litigious spirit, and 'remarkably fond of
having all their disputes, even those of the most trivial kind, settled
according to law'."

In this year 1798, the Law School entered on its second and
more important phase. Heretofore Tapping Reeve had conducted
the school entirely alone. He held it in the little building adjoin-
ing his South Street house, now owned by Lewis B. Woodruff. This
little building is now the property of the Litchfield Historical Society,
which acquired it in 1911, through the public spirit of D wight C.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 103

Kilboum and Mrs. John A. Vanderp<^l, after it had been removed
from its first site to West Street and'was again in danger of being
taken down. In the years prior to 1798, Reeve had tanght upwards
of 200 men, but his ways were so informal that he kept no catalog
of their names. In that year he was appointed a Judge of the
Superior Court, becoming the Chief Justice of the State in 1814. It
was now necessary for Judge Eeeve to have an assistant, and he
chose James Gould, who had graduated in his School the same
year-
James Gould was bom in Branford, December 5, 1770. He was
graduated at Yale in 1791, and delivered the Latin Salutatory Ora-
tion, the highest scholastic honor for the graduating class. From
1798 to 1816 he gave his entire energies to the Law School, only prac-
tising as a lawyer in the holiday intervals. In May 1816, he was
appointed Judge of the Superior Court and Supreme Court of Errors.
In 1820, after he withdrew from the bench, he received the degree of
doctor of laws from Yale.

Hollister gives us the following account of him, (History of
Connecticut, Vol. II., pp. 602-3) : "Judge Gould was one of the
most finished and competent writers who have ever treated upon
any branch of the English jurisprudence. His great work upon
Pleading is a model of its kind. ... He had at first contemplated
writing a much more extended treatise, but while he was preparing
the materials for it, the appearance of Chitty's work on the same
title induced him to change his plan. As it was presented to the
public, Gould's Pleading is, therefore, only an epitome of the original
design, but for clearness, logical precision, and terseness of style, it
does not suffer in comparison with the Commentaries upon the laws
of England.

"As a lawyer, Judge Gould was one of the most profoundly
philosophical of that age. He carried into the forum the same
classical finish which appears upon every page of his writing. It
would have been as impossible for him to speak an ungrammatical
sentence, use an inelegant expression, or make an awkward gesture,
in addressing an argument to the jury, as it would have been for him
to attempt to expound the law when he was himself ignorant of it,
to speak disrespectfully to the judge upon the bench, or to exhibit
any want of courtesy to the humblest member of the profession who
might happen to appear as his opponent. His arguments also, like
his writings, were expressed in the most brief forms in which a
speaker can convey his thoughts to his hearers. He seldom spoke
longer than half an hour, and the most complex and important cases
never exceeded an hour".

The greatest possible difference of character existed between the
two Judges. To quote Baldwin again, p. 463: "It was feeling that
predominated and ruled the character in Reeve, and intellect in
Gould. Their students respected both, but they loved only one.
The commonplace book of a girl who was at Miss Pierce's School in
1811 shows entries by each. Judge Reeve describes her affectionately

I04 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

as 'my Lucy', quotes a verse fvom a hymn, and urges upon her atten-
tion the subject of personal religion. Judge Gould gives a few lines
from Pope's Iliad". And again, p. 468469: "Judge Reeve's method
of instruction was based on written notes, from which he lectured
with frequent off-hand explanations and illustrations of a colloquial
nature. His thoughts often outran his utterance, and he would
leave a sentence unfinished to begin another, as if distracted by
what one of his students described as a 'huddle of ideas'. Judge
Gould clung closely to his manuscript, from which he read so slowly
that the students, each seated at a separate desk, could write down
everything that was uttered. This each was expected to do then
and thera The notes thus taken, and also those made at Judge
Reeve's lectures, the students afterwards copied with care into
large folio volumes. They filled in all five of these, the pages of
which measured about nine and a half by seven and a half inches.
The notes of those which Judge Reeve had been accustomed to give
before the accession of Mr. Gould could be contained in one or more
vohmies of much smaller size".

The achievement of the School is perhaps best seen by compar
ing the course of study offered after 1798 with the reading usual for
students in private offices prior to 1784. In those days they "studied
some forms and little substance, and had within their reach but few
volimies beyond Coke's and Wood's Institutes, Blackstone's Com-
mentaries, Bacon's Abridgment, and Jacob's Law Dictionary; and,
when admitted to the bar, were better instructed in pleas in abate-
ment, than in the weightier matters of the Law". (Church's Cen-
tennial Address, p. 50).

Theodore D. Woolsey, in his Historical Discourse at the Semi-
centennial of the Yale Law School, p. 8, gives the following list of
the subjects studied at the Litchfield Law School, together with the
number of pages of note-books occupied by each:

Lectures by Reeve : Master and Servant, 44 pages ; Baron and Feme, 92 ;
Parent and Child, 48; Guardian and Ward, 10; Executors and Adminis-
trators, 69 ; Sheriffs and Gaolers, 41 ; Evidence, 72 ; Bills of Exchange and
Promissory Notes, 120; Insurance, 122; Charter Parties, 5; Joint Owners of
Vessels, 2 ; Partnership, 7 ; Factors, 6 ; Stoppage in Transitu, 2 ; Sailors' Con-
tracts, 2 ; Powers of Chancery, 51 ; Criminal Law, 64 ; Estates upon Condi-
tion, 83 ; Modes of Acquiring Estates, 23 ; Devises, 57.

Lectures by Gould: Municipal Law, 50; Contracts, 113; Fraudulent Con-
veyances, 33 ; Bailments, 55 ; Inns and Innkeepers, 9 ; Covenant-Broken, 42 ;
Action of Debt, 9 ; Action of Detinue, 2 ; Action of Account, 9 ; Notice and
Request, 3; Assumpsit, 31; Defences to Actions, T^; Private Wrongs, 74;
System of Pleading, 232; New Trials, 27; Bills of Exceptions, 4; Writs of
Error, 18; Practice in Connecticut, 68; Real Property, 115; Title by Deed, 40;
Actions for Injuries to Things Real, 46.

Charles G. Loring, in 1851, at a meeting of the Story Association
of the Harvard Law School, gave a picture of the Litchfield School
which is well worth quotation:

. Ml > (

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 105

"It will, probably, be uews to . . . many . . . here, that thirty
eight years ago, which to many here seems a remote antiquity, there
existed an extensive Law School in the State of Connecticut, at
which more than sixty students from all parts of the country were
assembled. ... I joined it in 1813, when it was at its zenith, and
the only prominent establishment of the kind in the land. The recol-
.lection is as fresh as the events of yesterday, of our passing along
the broad shaded streets of one of the most beautiful of the villages
of New England, with our ink-stands in our hands, and our port-
folios under our arms, to the lecture room of Judge Gould, the last
of the Komans, of Common Law lawyers; the impersonation of its
genius and spirit. It was, indeed, in his eyes, the perfection of
human reason, by which he measured every principle and rule of
action, and almost every sentiment. Why, Sir, his highest visions
of poetry seemed to be in the refinement of special pleading; and to
him, a non sequitur in logic was an offense deserving, at the least,
fine and imprisonment, — and a repetition of it, transportation for life.
He was an admirable English scholar, every word was pure English,
undefiled, and every sentence fell from his lips perfectly finished,
as clear, transparent and penetrating as light, and every rule and
principle as exactly defined and limited as the outline of a building
against the sky. From him we obtained clear, well defined, and
accurate knowledge of the Common Law, and learned that allegiance'
to it was the chief duty of man, and the power of enforcing it upon
others his highest attainment. From his lecture room we passed
to that of the venerable Judge Eeeve, shaded by an aged elm, fit
emblem of himself. He was, indeed, a most venerable man, in
character and appearance, his thick, grey hair parted and falling in
profusion upon his shoulders, his voice only a loud whisper, but
distinctly heard by his earnestly attentive pupils. He, too, was
full of legal learning, but invested the law with all the genial enthu-
siasm and generous feelings and noble sentiments of a large heart . . .
and discanted to us with glowing eloquence upon the sacredness and
majesty of law. He was distinguished by that appreciation of the
gentler sex which never fails to mark the true man and his teach-
ings of the law in reference to their rights and to the domestic
relations, had great influence in elevating and refining the senti-
ments of the young men who were privileged to hear him. As
illustrative of his feelings and manner upon this subject, allow me
to give a specimen. He Avas discussing the legal relations of mar-
ried women; he never called them however by so inexpressible a
name, but always spoke of them as, 'the better half of mankind', or
in some equally just manner. When he came to the axiom that
'a married woman has no will of her own', this, he said, was a
maxim of great theoretical importance for the preservation of the
sex against the undue influence or coercion of the husband; but,
although it was an inflexible maxim, in theory, experience taught
ns that practically it Avas found that they sometimes had wills of
their OAvn, most happily for us. We left his lecture room the very

io6 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

knight-errants of the law, burning to be the defenders of the right
and the avengers of the wrong; and he is no true son of the Litch-
field School who has ever forgotten that lesson".

Judge Reeve's efforts to improve the rights of married women
bore fruit, but not till many years later, in the work happily of
another Litchfield man. Chief Justice Charles B. Andrews, through
whose efforts was enacted in 1877 the statute that in our state women
are not responsible to their husbands in the transfer of property,
either real or personal.

The fruits of the Litchfield Law School are found of course in
the records of its students. And we have only to turn to the
list of names in the Appendix, to find what these fruits have been.
The list is very incomplete. In the first place it includes none of
the students of the first fourteen classes; then, although all later
names were preserved, th«* achievements of the various graduates
were known only in a fortuitous way. There was no organization
of alumni to keep track of what the men were doing. A catalog
was printed in 1828, and a supplement in 1831. In 1849, the catalog
was reprinted, with the addition of the ranks and positions attained
by certain graduates, compiled by George C. Woodruff. Later manu-
script notes were made by Lewis B. Woodruff, and still later find
ings are given in Kilbourn's Bench and Bar. Collating all these
sources, we find that there were 1,015 students in all, of whom 805 were
at the School after 1798, whose names appear in the catalogs. The
men of these later classes achieved in the aggregate the positions of
distinction which follow : Vice-Presidents, 1 ; Members of the Cabinet,
5; U. S. Senators, 17; Members of Congress, 53; Diplomats, 5; Asso-
ciate Justices TJ. S. Supreme Court, 3 ; Judges IT. S. District or Cir-
cuit Courts, 4; Chief Justices of States, 7; Associate Judges of the
Superior Courts of States, 27 ; Other State Judges, 15 ; Governors of
States, 10; Lieutenant-Governors of States, 7; State Secretaries of
State, 2; State's Attorneys, 3; State Chancellors, 3; Vice-Chancel-
lors, 1; Speakers of the House of Representatives of States, 4; Col-
lege Presidents, 3. Their names and a few others will be given in
the Appendix.

Many other graduates doubtless achieved definite work, which
cannot be recorded by a title. Prominent among these we may men-
tion the picturesque figure of Junius Smith, who was born in Plymouth
in 1780 and graduated at the Litchfield Law School in 1803. "In
1832, he interested himself in the cause of trans-Atlantic steam
navigation, convinced that the ocean could be crossed by steam. He
was met with incredulity. He undertook to charter a vessel for
an experiment but had no success. He tried to organize a company
but men of science declared that no steamer could survive the terrible
storms that sweep the Atlantic. Not a single share of stock was
taken. Notwithstanding this, he persevered. His indomitable will
conquered, and in 1838, the Sirius, a steamer of 700 tons, sailed from
Cork on the 4th day of April, and reached New York on the 23rd.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 107

the first vessel that steamed her way across the Atlantic". (Atwater-
History of Plymouth, 1895, p. 179).

Horace Mann was born in 1796, in Franklin, Mass. He was in
the class of 1822 at the Law SchooL His career as an educator
dates from 1837, from which time to his death, he worked for the
cause of education with constant intensity, holding conventions,
lecturing, introducing many reforms, planning and inaugurating
the Massachusetts Normal School System. He virtually revolu-
tionized the common school system of the country. He died in 1859.

The two most distinguished of all the graduates were both
Southerners, John C. Calhoun and John M. Claj-ton, both of whom
became Secretary of State, and the former, Vice-President of the
United States. It is always a source of speculation how far the
later successes of such men can be traced to the stimulating influ-
ence of Litchfield Hill in their most impressionable years. We can
at least join with Morris W. Seymour, (Address at the Presentation
of the Litchfield Law School, 1911, p. 25), in the fervent prayer that
the seeds of secession were not sowed in young Calhoun by the views
held by many men in Connecticut at the time, 1804-5, when he was
in Litchfield. That this doctrine was undoubtedly widely discussed
here appears from Governor Baldwin's essay, p. 485 : "In 1829, Judge
Gould took an active part in a controversy that followed the publi-
cation in 1827 of Jefferson's letter to Governor Giles, stating that
John Quincy Adams had told him that designs of disunion were
meditated in New England early in the century. Uriah Tracy had
been mentioned as one of those who were engaged in them. Judge
Gould wrote to those of the leaders among Connecticut Federalists of
the Jeffersonian era who still survived, for their recollections as to
this matter, and published them with caustic comments on the
assertions of President Adams in a lengthy communication to a
New York newspaper. (Henry Adams, New England Federalism,
pp. 93-106). It was a vigorous and loyal effort to vindicate the
memory of his father-in-law; but other letters from other sources of
earlier date, that have since come to light, seem to show that Adams
was substantially in the right. While there was no definite plan
of secession, the right to secede was certainly asserted, and the
policy of a resort to it advocated in 1804 by not a few Federalist
leaders, and among others by Judge Reeve, in confidential corres-
pondence with Tracy". (H. C. Lodge, Life and Letters of George
Cabot, p. 442). *

Among the Litchfield men, who received their training at the
Law School, were Aaron Burr Reeve, 1802, the promising young
son of Tapping Reeve, who died prematurely in 1809; Seth P Beers
1803; Oliver S. Wolcott, 1818, the son of Oliver Wolcott Jr • Origen
S. Seymour, 1824; George C. Woodruff, 1825; Lewnls B. Woodruff
1830. '

Daniel Sheldon, the son of Dr. Sheldon, was in the first Gould
class, 1798. He was afterwards Secretary to Albert Gallatin in
Paris, when the latter was Minister there. An interesting account

io8 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

of his experiences is given in Mrs. Edgar B. Van Winkle's paper, A
Litchfield Diplomat, read before the Litchfield Historical Society in
1904.

The Law School was never incorporated. "Judge Reeve's share
in the work of the Law School was not large after he left the bench,
and he withdrew from it altogether in 1820, although Judge Gould
continued to pay him a third of the net receipts from tuition, annu-
ally His place was supplied after a few years by bringing in

Jabez W. Huntington, a member of the Litchfield Bar and one of the
alumni of the school, who continued his connection with it as long
as it was maintained, then becoming an Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut, and subsequently a Senator
of the United States.

"At this period the regular course of study at the school was
completed in fourteen months, including two vacations of four weeks
each, one in the spring and one in the autumn. $100 was charged
for the first year of tuition and $60 for a second, which, of course,
if pursued to the end, consisted largely of the repetition of lectures
previously heard. Few students ever remained more than eighteen
months. After the retirement of Judge Reeve the courses were
re-arranged under forty-eight titles. Judge Gould occupied from
an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half in lecturing daily.
Reported cases were still comparatively few, and he aimed to notice
all that were of importance decided in the English Courts. The
students were expected to examine some of these for themselves dur-
ing the remainder of the day, and to accompany each lecture course
by parallel readings in standard text-books. One or two moot
courts were held weekly, Judge Gould presiding. The briefs of
counsel were carefully prepared together with the opinion of the
court. There was an attorney-general elected by the students. . . .
It was, indeed, often no easy matter for an instructor in such a
school to keep so far ahead of his pupils that they would always be
forced to acknowledge his superior authority. Many of them were
practicing lawyers who came there for a year to round out their
professional education. . . .

"From 1826 the Law School began to decline quite rapidly. The
publication of Swift's Digest and Kent's Commentaries made its
whole theory of instruction antiquated. The Harvard Law School
had been founded in 1817, and that of Yale in 1824. No unendowed
private institution can long maintain a competition with one sup-
ported by permanent funds and forming part of an established uni-
versity. But six students Avere in the entering class of 1833. Judge
Gould's health had been slowly breaking down for years, and the
time had evidently come to close the school. He had been able to
maintain it so long only by the aid of a son who sometimes read his
lectures to the class, and of a young lawyer of Litchfield, whose
assistance in addition to that of Mr. Huntington, was occasionally
invoked, Origen Storrs Seymour, afterwards Chief Justice of Con-
necticut". (Baldwin, pp. 481-487).

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD lou

lu its later years, tlie School was conducted in a second little
building, adjoining the Gould house on North Street, just as the
Reeve Law School adjoinetl the house on South Street. During the
intermediate period, when the school was at its height, both build-
ings were in use. The Gould Law School was later carried out a
mile or more on the Bantam Road, where it was converted into a
tenement at the sharp turn in the roadway.

There is something very distinctive about these two small build-
ings, which have contributed so unpretentiously and so successfully
to the legal history of our country. They fittefl into the simple direct
life of Litchfield, and served to convey to the young men who studied
in them something of this simple, direct manner. And beyond all,
was the kindly, paternal image of Judge Reeve himself, the real
soul of the School, though in many respects Judge Gould was the
more important teacher. So generous, so chivalrous, his memory
will be treasured when some greater names are forgotten. An anec-
dote told by Catherine Beecher sums up in a sentence his respect for
and devotion to all womankind, namely, "that he never saw a little
girl but he wished to kiss her, f oi* if she was not good she would be ;
and he never saw a little boy but he washed to whip him, for if he
was not bad he would be". (Autobiography, Vol. I., p. 224).

CHAPTER X.

MISS pibrcb's school.

"It was about the middle of June, 1823", we read in the Personal
Memories of E. D. Mansfield, p. 122, "that my father and I drove up
to Grove Catlin's tavern, on the Green, of Litchfield, Connecticut.
It was one of the most beautiful days of the year, and just before
sunset. The scene was most striking. Litchfield is on a hill,
about one thousand feet above the sea, and having fine scenery on
every side. On the west rises Mount Tom, a dark, frowning peak;
in the south-west. Bantam Lake, on whose shores I have often
walked and ridden. In the north and east other ridges rolled away
in the distance, and so, from Litchfield Hill, there is a varied and
delightful prospect. One of the first objects which struck my eyes
was interesting and picturesque. This was a long procession of
school girls, coming down North Street, walking under the lofty
elms, and moving to the music of a flute and flageolet. The girls
Avere gaily dressed and evidently enjoying their evening parade, in
this most balmy season of the year. It was the school of Miss
Sally Pierce, whom I have mentioned before, as one of the earliest
and best of the pioneers in American female education. That scene
has never faded from my memory. The beauty of nature, the love-
liness of the season, the sudden appearance of this school of girls,
all united to strike and charm the mind of a young man, who, how-
ever varied his experience, had never beheld a scene like that".

Sarah Pierce was born in Litchfield on June 26, 1767, and died
on January 19, 1852. Her father was John Pierce, of Litchfield,
by trade a potter. He was twice married, and had a large family.
The names of eleven of his children are preserved, but probably
there were several others. Sarah was the youngest child by his
first wife, Mary Patterson. Upon the death of the father in 1783,
at the early age of 53, the care of this large family devolved in great
measure on the eldest son, John Pierce. He was born in 1752, and
at the time of his fathers death was contemplating marriage with
a Miss Ann Bard. This naturally made him anxious that some
others at least of the family should become more self-supporting than
their immediate prospects in Litchfield made possible. He there-
fore had the very happy thought that Sarah should become a teacher.
She had a mind naturally quick, but no special aptitude for teach-
ing had yet been recognized in her. It was a random shot appar-
ently, but a most important one, not only for the family, but for
Litchfield and the wliole history of the higher education of women.
•Tohn Pierce Jr. Avas evidently a man of vision, developed, as were

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD in

«o many, by the imperative needs of the Revolution. He had been
thirteen years in the paymaster's department of the army, a friend
of Washington, and an able officer, leaving the army with the rank
of Colonel. He recognized at once that however apt his sister might
become at her books, she would require a dignity and presence,
before she could become a successful teacher of girls from the larger
tdties, such as she herself could hardly hope to leam in the Litch-
field of 1784. Twenty years later it would have been a very differ-
ent story. He therefore sent her to New York in April 1784, and his
instructions to her are most interesting: "The short time you have
aiid the many things you have to learn, occasions me to wish you
would employ every moment for the purpose, I hope you will not
miss a single dancing school, and that you will take lessons from
CJapt. Turner at other times, pray get him and Katy your friend, to
instruct you in everything in walking standing and sitting, all the
movements of which tho' they appear in a polite person natural, are
the effects of art, while country girls never attend to and which
you had best take the utmost pains, or you will never appear
natural & easy in. I am somewhat fearful that your old habits
at your age can not be so thoroughly removed, as to give place to a
natural careless genteel air, and which totally hides all the art of it.
The Books I left with you I wish you not to read much in town, I
want you to study the fashions, the art of pleasing to advantage and
for this purpose to spare no necessary expense, and if you do not
appear as genteel as any of the girls it will be your own fault, you
must however pay a great regard to economy & always remember
that every Dollar takes so much from my future prospects, on
which you know that not only yours but mine and all our families
happiness depends". (Vanderpoel, p. 347).

Col. Pierce was married in 1786 and died in 1788. The cares
of the family through these years fell on Sarah and her sisters,
and the plans for teaching could not be put into action until 1792.
She continued her studies at odd times through this period, never
for a moment forgetting what her life work was to be; and, when
she took her first pupil in the dining room of her house, she was
fully equipped, both mentally and as her brother would have said
socially, to guide her school from this humble beginning to the full
heights of its future importance.

Mrs. E. X. Vanderpoel, the great-grand-daughter of Col. Tall-
madge and one of Litchfield's artists, has written the story of Miss
Pierce's Academy in a fascinating volume: The Chronicles of a Pio-
neer School, edited by Elizabeth C. Barney Buel, 1903. Her book is
tiuoted from throughout the present work, but this chapter on the
School can be but a very incomplete abridgement of parts of it. The
Chronicles should be read by every person interested in Litchfield,
as the diaries and letters and other papers reprinted therein open
up a picture of the life of the whole town in those days of the Golden
Age which no chapters like ours can in any manner indicate.

112 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

The School passed through three phases. First it v,as con-
ducted at the "old red house" built about 1750 by Zebulon Bissell
near the site of the present Coiigrejijational Parsonage. This was
the Pierce homestead at this time, ami the little dining room served
comfortably as a school room until the number of pupils began
very much to increase.

By 1798 (Vanderpoel, p. 19) the school had become of suflficient
importance to interest the prominent men of the town to build
a suitable building for Miss Pierce. It was then dignified by the
name of the Female Academy. The subscription list Avas headed
by Tapping Reeve, who contributed $40. 26 other names appear
on the list, the total subscribed being $385. The Academy stood
immediately below the old house. In 1803, Miss Pierce built her-
self a new house, still further south, the house and the Academy
occupying the present Underwood grounds. The old house was
then occupied by Miss Pierce's sister Susan, who had married James
Brace, and her family. The second and most successful period of
the school was conducted in this second building, the first Academy.

In 1827, it was decided to increase the scope of the school by
the erection of a new Academy, with the incorporation of the insti-
tution under a board of Trustees. A company was formed, known
as the Litchfield Female Academy, of which Frederick Wolcott was
the President, with a capital not to exceed $7,500. Of this 40
shares of $15. each were given to Miss Pierce in exchange for the
land and previous building of the Academy. A new subscription
was taken up, and 67 shares of $15. each were subscribed for. In
due course the new Academy was constructed. After the close of
the school, sometime after 1855, it was removed to the Beecher Lot,
corner of North and Prospet^t Streets, where it was occupied for
some years by the boys' school of the late Rev. James Richards D. D.,
known as the Elm Park Collegiate Institute. Henry R. Jones of
Brooklyn converted it into the present residence ot his family after
he purchased the corner about 1882. The Beecher House adjoining
was bought by Dr. Henry W. Buel about 1872 and removed to
Spring Hill, where it now forms a part of the group of buildings.

The Pierce-Brace house was torn do\vn to be replaced by the
present Parsonage, and the Pierce house was torn down about 1896
to make way for the present Underwood house. Thus all traces
of the Academy are now scattered.

Corresponding to this development of the outward and visible
character of the Academy, there was a steady development in its
educational policy.

At first the number of pupils was small, the studies very simple.
From the start we find that Miss Pierce had a high idea of what
girls should be taught. Her ideal was to train them in all the same
studies that a boy would be taught. She began Geography and
History from the first, both then innovations in girls' schools. At
times the lessons were perhaps above the heads of the children. In

Miss Sally Pierce

The Litchfield Academy, 1827

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 113

the diary of an early pupil, Julia Cowles, aged eleven, we read:
"June 30, 1797. Went to school, told History, sewed some. Miss
Sally says that I have been a pretty good girl this week. I have
not been oflfended this week. I have helped Aunt Lewis almost
every day this week. . . . July G. I do not recollect any History
that we read to day only that there was one Punic war. . . . July 13.
I do not recollect any of the History read to day only that Hanibal
died. . . . July 21. Attended school, read Historj'. Danced last
evening, enjoyed the intended pleasure. . . . July 26. Attended
school forenoon painted. I dont know a word of the History.
1*. 31. I stayed at home*'.

Miss Pierce's SJ^npathy with her pupils was proverbial. Per-
haps it Avas stimulated by the death of one of these, little Nancy
Cutler, (hiring the second year of the school, August 1793. Miss
I'ierce took tlie little child back to her mother, who afterwards
wrote: "September 3, 1793: The amiable Miss Pierce is going home. I
fear I shall be still more lonely, but I will try to be cheerfull. I
esteem Sally for her goodness of heart. She is a good Girl and
I think I shall not forget her kindness to me or the attention she
paid that much loved child". (Yanderpoel, p. 9).

Miss Pierce was twenty five years old when she began the school.
She never lost her sympathy with her girls. She never asked them
to do any work which she was not ready to share, nor to undertake
any exercise which she was not ready to join in, nor to have any
amusements which she did not lead. When she found that the
Histories in vogue were dull to her girls, she set out and wrote
others herself. Her Histories, dating from 1811 to 1818, were com-
piled in the form of questions and answers, which she claimed to
be the form most easily imbibed by children, and were intended ''to
intermix moral with historical instruction".

This first period of the school lasted till the building of the
first Academy, in 1798. It was the tentative period, the period of
growth.

The second period Avas one of fruition. Pupils were coming in
large numbers. We hear of a hundred and thirty in one year, while
the total for the whole forty years of the school was afterwards
estimated by Miss Pierce's nephew, John Pierce Brace, as having
been three thousand. The assistance of her sisters was no longer
sufficient for the carrying on of the school, and different teachers
were called in to help. The chief of these was the nephew just
mentioned, John Pierce Brace, who lived next door. To prepare
him to be her assistant, Miss Pierce had sent him to college at
Williams. He appears to have been a born educator like his
aunt, and to have held as she did that women deserved the same
standards of education as men. The program of the school noAv
became greatly enlarged. The studies of chemistry, astronomy and
botany were added to those of history and geography. The fine
accomplishments of music, dancing, singing and embroidery, of draw-

114 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

ing and painting were retained. John Brace was an enthusiast in
the natural sciences and Harriet Beecher Stowe used to refer to
his keeping up "a constant conversation on the subject".

There are a number of amusing references to his passion for
these subjects. In her diary, for June 2, 1822, Mary? L. Wilbor
w^rote, (Vanderpoel, p. 236) : "Mr. Brace had all his bugs to school
this P. M. He has a great variety, two were from China, which were
very handsome, almost all the rest Avere of Litchfield descent, and he
can trace their pedigree as far back as when Noah entered the
ark". Another pupil, Caroline Chester, wrote in 1816, (Vander-
poel, p. 152) : "I went to Mr. Brace's, where I spent the evening
most agreeably and saw a plenty of butterflies and spiders". The
cult of natural science invaded the law school, possibly by way of
furnishing another subject of common interest. That rollicking
diarist and law-student, George Younglove Cutler wrote October 24,
1820, (Vanderpoel, p. 202) : "A mineralogical compliment from Dr.
A- S. M. in return for a box of stones sent him — which I collected
from the neighboring stone walls, etc., 'horizontalizing them' to use
his expression, much to the disadvantage of the agricultural inter-
ests in this part of the country".

The course of study at this time, 1821, has been preserved in
the papers of Miss Sarah Kingsbury, (Vanderpoel, p. 233) : "Morses
Geography, Websters Elements, English Grammar, Miss Pierces
History, Arithmetic through Interest, Blair's Lectures, Modem
Europe, Kamsey's American Revolution, Natural Philosophy,
Chemistry, Paley's Moral Philosophy, Hedge's Logic and Addision
on Taste".

In this second period, the Academy was the leader in the educa-
tion of women throughout the country. The third period, after the
construction of the enlarged building, was not so fortunate. Miss
Pierce, in 1827, was sixty years old, and though she retained her
interest and much of her vitality, could not put into the work all
her earlier energy; and John Pierce Brace, in the winter of 1831-32,
was offered and accepted the position of principal in the Female
Seminary at Hartford. He had been the assistant of Miss Pierce
for eighteen years, becoming more and more a dominant factor in
the work, and his departure marked the beginning of the end. In
1833 Miss Pierce asked to resign, and the Trustees appointed Miss
Henrietta Jones as principal. She had been a pupil of the school,
and a teacher for five years. In 1844, the Trustees made applica-
tion to the Legislature for a change in the charter, so that the build-
ings could be used for both sexes. In 1849 the use of the Academy
was tendered to the Normal School. Finally in 1856 the Trustees
wound up the corporation, selling the property back to Miss Mary
Pierce, a much younger half-sister of Miss Sally, who in the last
years had assisted in the conduct of the school. Miss Sally Pierce
lived almost to the close of the school, dying in 1852, at the ripe
age of eighty five years.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 115

"She was small in person", wrote her friend, Gideon H. Hollis-
ter, in his History of Connecticut, "of a cheerful, lively temi>era-
ment, a bright eye, and a face expressive of the most active benevol-
ence. She was in the habit of practicing herself all the theories
that she taught to her pupils, and, until physical infirmities con-
fined her to her room, would take her accustomed walk in the face
of the roughest March wind that ever blew across our hills".

The life such a woman offered to her pupils was certainly an
inspiration. It meant doubtless much more than the mere teaching
could; for although the scholarship was so high we do not hear
that the graduates achieved any great reputations in science or in
learning in their after lives. But they did achieve, many of them,
very happy lives, the seeds of which are certainly to be traced to
Litchfield. It is not enough to say that many of them became
engaged to Law students, whom they afterwards married. What
really counted was the influence of Miss Pierce, the influence of
the Litchfield culture, the health of the climate, the habit of right
thinking developed by the courses, and the cheerful life of the
school.

In the next chapter will be found an outline of their more formal
amusements, but something should be said here of the everyday life.
Few of the girls lived at Miss Pierce's house; the great majority
of those who were not Litchfield girls boarded around. There were
several fairly large boarding houses, like Aunt Bull's on Prospect
Street, and nearly every house took one boarder or two. In many
cases the scholars from Miss Pierce's and the students from the
Law School boarded in the same house.

Pleasant as the school life was, it was governed by very regu-
lar rules, and it is a little surprising to us how strictly these were
enforced. Probably this had much to do with everything running
so smoothly. Here are some of the rules of 1825, (Vanderpoel, p.
255):

"You are expected to rise early, be dressed neatly and to exercise before
breakfast. You are to retire to rest when the family in which you reside
request you. You must consider it a breach of politeness to be requested
a second time to rise in the morning or retire of an evening.

"It is expected that you attend public worship every Sabbath, except
some unavoidable circumstance prevent^ which you will dare to present as a
sufficient apology at the day of judgment.

"Your deportment must be grave and decent while in the house of God;
all light conduct in a place of worship is not only offensive to God but an
indication of ill breeding; and highly displeasing both to the good and the
polite.

"Every hour during the week must be fully occupied either in useful
employments, or necessary recreation. Two hours must be faithfully
devoted to close study each day, while out of school : and every hour in
school must be fully occupied. The ladies where you board must mention
if you do not study your two hours each day.

ii6 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

"You must suppress all emotions of anger, fretfulness and discontent.

"No young lady is allowed to attend any public ball, or sleigh party till
they are more than i6 years old.

"Speaking or moving once in school hours either with or without lib-
erty will take off a part of the extra — unless they move to recite or prac-
tice, or write at the tables — Speaking more than once will take off the whole
extra and often give you a quarter of a miss.

"You must not walk for pleasure after 9 o'clock in the evening. A
reward will be given to those who do not waste any money, books, clothes,
paper or quills, during the term. To those who have their studies per-
formed at the proper time. To those who have not been peevish, homesick, or
impolite. To those who always attend meeting or church. To those who
never write carelessly".

These eight rules were supplemented by fifteen others, so that
conduct was well defined. The regulation about deportment in
church brings to mind the Keminiscences of Miss Esther H. Thomp-
son, (Vanderpoel, p. 297), who tells about "the feuds between Miss
Pierce's scholars and the farmers' daughters — more especially that
peculiar class of young American girls who were 'living out' — the
'help' — in village families. These girls, usually the most ambitious
of their family, made more independent by self support, gaining
influence in proportion to the polish acquired by intercourse with
village people, easily dominated all of their set, and together were
a strong band. The school girls were supercilious, the help aggres-
sively arrogant — and both classes equally proud and uncompromis-
ing. Many a battle was fought on Sunday as well as on week
days. All around the gallery Avails of the old church on the
Green was a row of square pews fenced in with the conventional
high lattice work, while in front were two rows of benches. Many
of the young people of fthe congregation chose to sit there where
they were more free from the restraining presence of their seniors.
Sometimes one part of the gallery would be considered the special
choice, sometimes another, but out girls and school girls would
never freely mingle! When one pew was monopolized by school
girls for a noticeable length of time the out girls would come early
some Sunday and pack the seats. Then would follow pin pricking,
pinching and punching through the lattice — and the incensed school
girls would bide their time to preempt the out girls' places".

There was a certain rivalry also between the out of town school
girls and the Litchfield girls who did not attend the school. Timothy
Pierce, one of the half-brothers of Miss Sally, wrote in 1800, (Van
derpoel, p. 378) : "School consisting of 15 only — now there are so
few I hope that the native ladies of Litchfield may stand some
chance for a part at least of the attention of Mr. Reeve's students".

The rivalry was very friendly on the whole, and the Litchfield
people were certainly very hospitable to the girls who came from
other i»laces. They were constantly invited out and appear to
have reciprocated by being just as nice as they could be. The rule
about being home at nine was sometimes a source of difficulty. On

Lucv Sheldon
From a Miniature by Anson Dickinson

Miss Lucretia Deming

From a Miniature by Anson Dickinson

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 117

one occasion Margaret Hopkins, one of the pupils, went to spend the
evening at Aunt Bull's. She was one of the few pupils who roomed
at Miss Pierce's own house. A law student of the party put back
the hands of the clock so that when one of the number took Margaret
back to her house, it was quite shut up. After much knocking,
Miss Pierce came to the door in night-cap and gown, candle in
hand. (Yanderpoel, p. 289). On another occasion, Caroline Chester,
whose acquaintance we have already made, and who was living at
the house of Dr. Sheldon, was at a large party at the Wolcott's:
"When the clock struck nine, the girl was carrying around the
wine, and I too well knew if I was not at home, the family would
be displeased. I spoke to the lady who sat next to me and said
I must go, and she said it would be extremely improper in her
opinion for me who was the youngest in the room to go first, because
if I went, all would go. At about half past nine Miss Burr rose to go,
and all the company followed her example. It was very cold and
as I crossed the green, the wind blew and I thought, what can be
keener? but I found when I reached home that a keener blast
awaited me, a blast which will never no never be erased from my
memory. I opened the door with a trembling hand, no one was in
the room, but soon Dr. came. My heart throbbed violently, and
he said — why are you home at this late hour? 1 told my excuse,
he interrupted me by saying that it was but a poor excuse. . . . He
concluded by saying that if I ever staid out again he certainly
would lock the door if it was after nine. . . , and thus did I pay for
my whistle-'. (Vanderpoel, p. 153).

These stories are worth quoting, if only as a picture of Puritan
traits, still surviving only 100 years ago. Something of the same
character is found in the ejaculation of another pupil, Mary L.
Wilbor, in her diary, 1822, "I went to the Post Office with Miss
Averill but we did not go in, for it was very much crowded with
gentlemen. I do not think it is quite proper for us to go to the
I)ost-office so often but still continue going!" (Vanderpoel, p. 235).

Dr. Daniel Sheldon, who was so strict with Caroline Chester,
was by no means an exception. He was universally beloved as
Good old Doctor Sheldon. "Dear old Dr. Sheldon", wrote Henry
Ward Beecher, in Litchfield Revisited, 185G, "We began to get well
as soon as he came into the house; or if the evil spirit delayed a
little, •Cream-o'-tartar' with hot water poured upon it and sweetened,
finished the work. He had learned long before the days of home-
opathy, that a doctor's chief business is to keep parents from giving
their children medicine".

Of him, E, D. Mansfield Avrote: "When he had just graduated
from a medical college, he had an attack on his lungs, and was sup-
I>osed to be fast going into consumption, and was saved by what may
be called heroic treatment. He went to Litchfield to practice medi-
cine, which involved much riding on horseback, and he began taking
opium, until he took incredible quantities. Nevertheless it cured
him; and he recovered from the habit of taking opium as resolutely

Ii8 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

and bravely as lie had began it. He survived all danger of early
death, and lived to be eighty four years of age, quietly and peace-
fully declining, untU he passed from this life as gently as the setting
star. One of his sons was secretary of legation in France, and
one was a very successful merchant in New York. I was indebted
to him for a comforting assurance, when we students were charged
with being uncommonly 'fast'. There were more than fifty law
students boarding in Litchfield, many of them of wealthy families,
and many of them from the South. Of course, there must be some
amusement, and often the midnight air resounded with the songs
of midnight rioters, and sometimes stories were circulated to the
students' disadvantage. After hearing some remarks on the 'fast'
students, I met Dr. Sheldon walking, and said to him:

'"Doctor, they say we are the worst students ever were in
Litchfield'. 'Pooh! pooh!' said the doctor, 'they are not half so
bad as they were in my day'. So I was comforted with the idea
that we were not casting shame on those venerable Puritans, who
had condescended to become our ancestors. Be this as it may, I
greatly enjoyed those evening sleigh rides, and those country sup-
pers, when we would ride off to Goshen, or Harwinton, or other
village, and order our turkey and oysters, served up with pickles
and cake, and then set Black Caesar to play jigs on a cracked fiddle.
But the grand occasions was something beyond this, when we got
sleighs and fine horses, and buffalo robes, and foot- stoves, and
invited the belles of Litchfield, who never hesitated to go, and set
off to the distant village to have a supper and dance, tl seldom
danced, and some of the girls did not, but there were always some
who did, and we had jolly times". (Personal Memories, p. 135).

The school girls came in for the evening rides, though the nine
o'clock hour had to be carefully watched. Here is another extract
from Caroline Chester under date January 1, 1816. It will be
noticed that there was no full school holiday on New Year's day, as
indeed there was none on Christmas at Miss Pierce's: "Went to
school with a determination to improve all in my power, recited in
History without a mistake, in the afternoon went to Mr. Bradley's
tavern with Hannah Huntington, John and Mr. O. Wolcott, W. T.
and Mary. Had a most delightful ride, returned with Hannah to
tea, in the evening took a sleigh ride and returned home about nine.
Had a great many wishes that I might have a Happy New Year".
(Vanderpoel, p. 152). The two Wolcotts here mentioned were the
two sons of Oliver Wolcott Jr.

Another occassional event were the serenades. We quote again
from Mary L. Wilbor, July 4, 1822: We were sweetly serenaded by
B. and S. and L. as we suppose but we were so very unfortunate
as not to hear it. When Miss Mary told us of it this morning we
were quite astonished that we could be so stupid as not to hear it.
It must have been quite romantic, for I never saw a more delightful
evening". Fortunately another opportunity came, the very night

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 119

before her school career was over, August 29, 1822: "In the night
we were awoke by music which appeared to be very near us. We
instantly arose and found it to be Mssrs. Loring Burgess and Sulli-
van with flutes which were played with much skill and sweetness.
But all the pleasures of Litchfield could not render it possible for
me to i*emain there and in the morning I took my melancholy
departure". (Vanderpoel, p. 240).

Catherine Cebra Webb, another scholar, tells an anecdote in
point here: "Old Grove Catlin kept the Hotel in Litchfield, and had
a daughter Flora, who was quite a belle. The law students used
to quiz him about his daughter's popularity, and he said, "Yes, my
daughter Flora is assassinated most every night" (meaning sere-
naded)". (Vanderpoel, p. 150).

The serenade always involved a flute, whatever other accom-
paniment might be provided for the singers. This recalls the flute
and flageolet which accompanied the girls on their walks, but we
have no clue as to who was the player on these daily excursions.
Among the village boys at this time, Reuben Merriman, the silver-
smith, had a son who was a great devotee of the flute. Merriman's
shop was next the third Congregational Church, which had just
been erected- One day his son climbed the steeple and mystified
the whole town with his silvery notes floating down from the
heavens.

It would be pleasant to recall here some of the many girls
who studied at Miss Pierce's. The school catalogs and other lists
preserve the names of some hundreds of the three thousand who
attended in the forty years of Miss Sally's own direction; but space
prevents any extended notices. Here in 1825 studied Lucy M. Wood-
ruff, who married Origen S. Seymour. Many indeed are Litchfield
names, the Buels, the Wolcotts, the Seymours, the Bacons, the Dem-
ings. Here too came from Sharon the two Canfield sisters, about
1814, Julia, whom the law students called the Lily of the Valley,
from her fair skin and want of color, and Elizabeth Hannah, who
was called the Rose of Sharon, from her beauty and her birthplace
She married Frederick Augustus Tallmadge, the son of Col. Tall-
madge. He became one of the foremost citizens of New York, Presi-
dent of the State Senate, member of Congress, Recorder of the City,
and first Police Commissioner of New York.

One of the most charming of the students must have been Mary
Peck, who for a time was instructor ^n the school and later married
E. D. Mansfield. She took a foremosi; part in the life of the school,
in the plays written by Miss Pierce. Unfortunately no diary of
hers remains, as her reputation for sprightly fun would have insured
its interest to us, but she has left us an album full of autographs
of the prominent Litchfield people of 1827. We must not forget
the daughters of Dr. Sheldon, Charlotte, who has left us a very
delightful diary, especially important for its early date, 1796, and
Lucy, who also has left us a diary, 1801. There is a pleasant touch

120 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

in one of the latter's letters to her brother, telling of a trip made
to Niagara, with her father and Miss Pierce, which will be cherished
by all true Litchfielders who feel that travel can show no fairer and
better place to live in : "Though we have passed through many pleas-
ant towns and villages yet as we entered Litchfield Miss P. and I
agreed that we had not seen one that would compare with it — in
neatness — and none pleasanter. Father jumped out of the stage
and said 'Home is home, if ever so homely!'" (Vanderpoel, p. 64).
Lucy Sheldon married Theron Beach of Goshen. She lived in
her father's house on North Street, and attained the great age
of 101 years, having been born June 27, 1788, and having died April 7,
1889. There have been many very old people in Litchfield, but the
palm is carried away from all competitors by the mother of Judge
Andrew Adams, who, as Morris tells (p. 107) : "was born in Strat-
ford, in the year 1698; and died in this town in the year 1803; aged
105. She lived in three centuries; and was of a pleasant temper,
amiable manners, temperate habits, and regular in all her deport-
ment". After considering such cases, one can see that the opinion
of Seth P. Beers was well-grounded, when he said, that the critical
period in the liA^es of the Litchfield people was between the ages
of ninety nine and one hundred years!

CHAPTEK XI.

AMUSEMENTS.

"The customs and manners of the first settlers of Litchfield
were plain and simple. Their clothing was of their own domestic
manufacture; and their food of their own raising. Foreign luxu-
ries were scarcely made use of till about the year 1750. Their amuse-
ments Avere of the athletic kind- When young people of both sexes
assembled together for amusement, they employed themselves prin-
cipally in dancing, Avhile one of the company sung. The first use
of the A iolin in this town for a dance was in the year 1748. The
whole expense of the amusement, although the young people gener-
ally assembled, did not exceed one dollar; out of which the fiddler
was paid. When this instance of profusion took place, parents and
old people exclaimed, that they should be ruined by the extravagance
of the youth. In the year 1798, a ball, with the customary enter-
taimnent and variety of music, cost about $160., and nothing was said
about it. Such has been the difference in the manners of Litch-
field, within half a century. It is not inferred from this differ-
ence, that our youth are at present more \'icious than formerly; but
it serves to shoAv a material difference in the wealth and character
of the people". (Morris, pp. 97-98).

Naturally the LaAv School and the Female Academy were prin-
cipally responsible for the great increase in dancing, which carried
all Litchfield Avith it, especially around holiday times. As early
as 1786, six years before Miss Pierce's School Avas opened, Mariann
Wolcott Avrote to her brother, Frederick : "Litchfield, August 23. ...
I have been dancing all the forenoon, and my hand trembles so, I
can hardly Avrite intelligibly. We dance again, this evening; and
Ave all Avish for your company. Mean time, you are poring over
some antiquated subject, that is neither instructive nor entertain-
ing. You cannot say so of our dancing; it is 'an amusement that
profits tlie mind"." (Wolcott Memoirs, p. 324).

After Miss Pierce's School Avas in full swing, many so-called
balls Avere given in the schoolroom under her patronage, the invita-
tions to attend them being of course highly prized by the law
students; they Avere hoAvever much simpler affairs than the LaAV
students gave in return, and probably it was a Law Student dance
which cost $100., in 1798. The Students Balls, as they Avere usually
styled on the invitations, Avere given in Phelps' Assembly Eoom, the
third story of Phelps' Tavern, Av^hich was modernized by Eufus King
in the OO's and denominated the Linited States Hotel, biit which has
noAv happily regained its old name of Phelps' Tavern, under the

122 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

ownership of Eugene L. Phelps. The Assembly Koora was very
lofty, the arched ceiling running up under the mansard roof. There
was a music balcony at the east end, and around the Sides of the
room ran a broad and comfortable divan, with red moreen cushions,
the seat itself lifting on hinges, in sections of about four feet, the
box beneath furnishing a neat and convenient receptacle for head
dress, shawls and wraps, the latter usually a cloak, the most favored
being a red broadcloth. In this manner, the modern cloakroom was
dispensed with.

The invitations to the Students Balls were printed on the backs
of playing cards, as can be seen by the curious collection of these
which is preserved in the rooms of our Historical Society. The
backs of cards were then plain white, and were utilized by printers
when needing blanks,for lack of anything better. The faces of
these playing cards are printed from the coarsest wood engraving,
roughly colored.

The balls were given nominally to commemorate anniversaries,
and are so designated on the invitations, as Litchfield Ball, New
Year's Ball, Birthnight Ball (Feb. 22), Exhibition Ball (in May, at
the closing of the winter term of Miss Pierce's school). Independence
Ball, Thanksgiving's Ball, and the like. They were in charge of
Committees, the members of which issued the tickets, endorsing their
names on them, to make themselves responsible for the bearers.
The hour named is invariably Six O'clock, alike in summer and in
winter, out of deference doubtless to Miss Pierce's nine o'clock cur-
few rule. The scholars under sixteen from the Academy could not
attend, but Miss Pierce compensated for this by furnishing a list
of 'eligibles' to the Students' Committee at the beginning of each
term.

In addition to these Balls, there were frequent Cotillion parties
given in private houses. (J. Deming Perkins, in Litchfield Enquirer,
April 21, 1904).

No theatricals were ever held in Litchfield till after the Revolu-
tion. Puritan principles would have been set too strongly against
anything of the kind, even if the experience and talent necessary to
carry them out had existed. The only thing at all related were the
occasional Exhibitions by the scholars of the many and varied
schools which have had their brief existences in the town. Thus,
the Monitor for March 30, 1791, has this paragraph: "Yesterday,
Mr. Hitchcock's students presented themselves before a public audi-
ence, at the meeting house, and exhibited various specimens of
improvement in Reading, "Writing, and Declamation, to general
satisfaction. The lads were from eight to twelve years of age.
Select pieces from the purest authors were spoken upon the stage,
and with more propriety than the most sanguine could have expected".

After the Revolution and the founding of the Law School, man-
ners changed so much and the infusion of a new spirit was so strong,
that it is no surprise to find theatrical performances beginning
almost at once.

Dr. Daniex Sheldon

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 123

The first we read of were in May, 1785, when a series of several
performances was given, "the principal characters being sustained
by students of Yale College". (Kilboume, p. 163). Of these the
Monitor wrote, "Distinguished Merit and literary Ability were so
evidently conspicuous and amply displayed on the Occasion, as
would have done Honor to a British Theatre".

Miss Pierce's sympathies extending to her scholar's play as well
as to their work, she wrote for them not only Histories, as we have
already seen, but several plays of a highly religious or moral char-
acter. Miss Edgeworth, in her most solemn moments, never per-
petrated anything more pointed with stimulating morals. To us it
is inconceivable that girls of sixteen could relish depicting the plays
of "Ruth", "The Two Cousins", and "Jephthah's Daughter", but they
were great events. All lessons and other occupations were given
up during the period of preparation. Catherine E. Beecher says
of these plays, (Autobiography, Vol. I., pp. 227-229) : "A stage was
erected, scenery was painted and hung in true theatre style, while
all the wardrobes of the community were ransacked for stage
dresses.

"On one occasion of this sort father came in late, and the house
being packed, he was admitted by the stage entrance. Either from
fun or accident, just as he was passing over the stage, the curtain
rose, and the laAv students spied him and commenced clapping.
Father stopped, bowed low, amid renewed clapping and laughter,
and then passed on to his seat.

"It was in this way that dramatic writing and acting became
one of the 'nothings' about which I contrived to be busy and keep
others so. Various little dramas were concocted and acted between
the school sessions in wintry weather. And after a while, when
nearly grown up, we got up in the family, very privately, quite an
affair of this kind. I turned Miss Edgeworth's Unknown Friend
into a drama, and for some weeks all the children old enough to
take part, and several school-girls boarding with us, were busy as
bees preparing for rehearsal. It was kept a profound secret till
the appointed evening, when father and mother wondered who built
a fire in the large parlor, and then still more how it happened that
so many neighbors and students called all at once. Then suddenly
the dining-room door was opened, and all invited in, while a mysteri-
ous curtain was descried at the farther end. The curtain rose,
and forthwith the actors appeared, and completed the whole enter-
tainment amid 'thunders of applause*. The next day, however, as
we expected, we were told that it was very well done, but we must
not do so any more".

The only professional performance that we hear of, was one of
'Shakespeare's Plays' given in Mr. Buel's Ball Room, in November,
1789, by a company of strolling actors. (Kilbourne, p. 164).

If strolling actors were a rare event, it is surprising how many
miscellaneous entertainments, or exhibitions, came to Litchfield in

124 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

these days. They do not strictly belong in a History of the town,
but they give so curious a light on what was considered amusement
in those days, and some of them sound so delightfully absurd in
themselves, that a few extracts may be quoted, covering the forty
years from 1787 to 1827. They are all taken from advertisements,
and whether they all materialized or how they were received is now
not to be known.

Monitor, July 16, 1787: "By permission — Mr. Pool, The first
American that ever exhibited the following Equestrian Feats of
Horsemanship on the Continent, Intends performing on Wednesday
next in Mr. Buel's orchard, in Litchfield. The performance to begin
at half past four o'clock in the afternoon, if the weather will permit,
if not, the first fair day after. A clown will entertain the Ladies
and Gentlemen between the feats". Seven events are specified, all
growing more and more elaborate and wonderful, "after which Mr.
Pool will introduce two extraordinary Horses, who at the word of
command, will lay themselves dowTi and groan, apparently through
extreme sickness and pain. The entertainment will conclude with
the noted droll scene, the Taylor riding to Brentford. Tickets
may be had at Mr. Buel's and at the place of performance, price
ls.6d. He beseeches the Ladies and Gentlemen, who honor him with
their presence, to bring no dogs to the place of performance".

Monitor, November 24, 1789 : Advertisement of John Brenon : "In
the curious and ingenious art of dancing on the Slack- Wire. Begins
precisely at 6 o'clock,tickets at ls.6d. Children 9d. First he bal-
ances a straw or a single tobacco pipe on the wire, second balances
a sword on the edge of a wine glass, third goes through a hoop on
ditto, fourth beats a drum on ditto; the whole of his performance
being collected from different parts of the globe where such amuse-
ments are in repute would be too long for this advertisement, his
ground balancing being past description. Mrs. Brenon walks the
Slack- Wire and performs many other feats never before attempted
by an American Lady".

Monitor, F^ebruary 16, 1791: "To the Curious. To be seen
at Charles Marsh's stable, a few rods south of the Court -House, till
Thursday evening, Two Camels, Male and Female, from Arabia.
These stupendous animals are most deserving the attention of the
curious, being the greatest natural curiosities ever exhibited to the
public on this continent. They are twenty hands high, have necks
four feet long. ... a large high bunch on their backs, and another
under their breasts, in the form of a pedestal, on which they support
themselves when lying down, they have four joints in their hind
legs, . . . will travel 12 or 14 days without drink, and carry 15
hundred weight. . . . are remarkably harmless and docile, and will
lie down and rise at command".

Witness, February 19, 1806: Xew Museum of Wax Work.
"Street respectfully acquaints the ladies and gentlemen of Litchfield
and vicinity, that he has opened, at the house of Mr. Charles But-

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 125

ler, a large and elegant collection of wax figures, as large as life".
Among the various characters advertised are, "an elegant figure of
the grand Bashaw of Tripoli", and a "Likeness of Mr. Ephraiui
Pratt, aged 120 years. This singular man is represented as giving
his property to a stranger in preference to his own family".

The same year, in connection with the Litchfield Festival of the
Democrats, there was advertised in the Witness, July 30, 1806: In
connection with the Kepublican Celebration of the 6th of August, a
live elephant will be exhibited at the house of Grove Catlin from
7 A. M. till sunset. Among other tricks announced, this animal
was trained to draw corks, to the astonishment of the Spectators-
Was this the original elephant of the G. O. P.?

Poster in the collection of the Litchfield Historical Society,
August 17, 1827: "The Aerial Phaeton. The subscriber intends
erecting on Litchfield Hill by the first day of September next an
Aerial Phaeton. The design of the machine is to afford an agree-
able pastime to ladies and gentlemen. It consists of Four Car-
riages each supported by Two Arms, which are attached to an Axle-
tree in the centre. They are turned by a Propelling Machine, and
will carry eight persons at once, two in each carriage, who will in
regular succession be raised to the distance of Fifty Feet in the
air, at a rate of velocity equal to ten miles a minute, or slower, as
suits the wishes of those occupying the carriages, and all with per-
fect ease and safety. This method of recreation and amusement has
been highly recommended by the most eminent Physicians in the
United States, and will be found the best mode for taking an airing,
by those whose lives are sedentary, that can be practised. The
place where it is to be erected, is airy, the prospect extending wide,
and being relieved by all the variety of hill and dale. Every atten-
tion w^ill be paid to company, and all things done 'decently and in
order'. John H. Montgomery, Inventor and maker of the Aerial
Phaeton. Price 121/2 per mile — children, half price".

There were many outdoor amusements. One of the great events
of the year was training day, when the local militia had their chief
displa^y. Here is an account from the Monitor, October 3, 1792:
"Yesterday, the company of Cavalry, commanded by Capt. Elihu
Lewis, well mounted and equipt, and two foot companies, under
Capts. Stone and Seymour, principally in uniform, mustered on the
parade of this town, and diverted several hundred spectators by a
variety of evolutions and firings, much to the honor of their respec-
tive corps. Harmony and good conduct pervaded the whole, and
no accidents occurred. Tho' a day of apparent glee, yet few, if any,
were the disciples of Sir Kichard — the head and legs of most were
capable of performing their accustomed duties".

We are fortunate in having two glimpses of Training Day, from
the diaries respectively of one of the girls and one of the law Stu-
dents. Eliza A. Ogden writes on September 24, 1816: "Friday it was
general training and there was no school in the morning. I went down

126 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

to the school house and saw them on the parade. In the afternoon I
went down to Miss Jones, to see the sham fight. I liked it very well".
Younglove Cutler, September 21, 1820, tells the story with his usual
more considerable snap: "To begin this great day was powdered.
Huzza! here we go, the defenders of our country — but lo my horse
has fallen under me & I am with my sword in the dirt & he (care-
ful creature) is bounding in his turn over me without harming a
hair of my head — now I am appearing to great advantage — now the
girls are falling in love with me — now at dinner. Mr. Such a
thing whom Lyman & myself saw at the ball & Mr. Law — both
from Georgia there — now it is afternoon & and I am bounding about
^now running our people — now my horse is fatigued — now it is
night — ^now I am dancing at the ball. . ." (Vanderpoel, pp. 165; 200) .

But there could not be balls and trainings every day. In
winter we have already read of the sleigh rides. There was the
skating also, though nothing is said of the school-girls going on the
ice, perhaps because of the reputed danger. Our lakes and the
river have claimed their victims indeed at all periods, four drown-
ings having occurred prior to 1814, and a relatively large number
since. Morris gives an account of these early accidents, pp. 99-100:
"The first was John Kilby, a foreigner, who fell out of a small canoe,
while crossing the Great Pond alone, on the 10th of September, 1787.
The second was a son of James Wickwire, who, on the 11th day of
December, 1793, fell through the ice, while playing on the Great
Pond with his school-mates. On the evening of the 16th day of
December, 1812, William H. Bennett, of South Carolina, aged 16
years, and William Ensign, aged 14, school-mates, then members of
Morris Academy, were drowned in the Great Pond. The moon
shone brightly. As others were skating, they ran into a glade.
An alarm was immediately given, and every exertion made to find
their bodies, but they could not be found till they had been under
water about one hour. Attempts were then made to resuscitate them,
but in vain. They were amiable youths, fond of each other, and
in a very melancholy manner united in death".

In summer, there were walks, occasional driving excursions,
trips on Bantam Lake, not to speak of the earlier and more rural
Husking parties, Apple-bees, Kaisings, Quiltings, Spinning parties,
and of course the Weddings.

In the days of the Academy, the walks were principally to Pros-
pect Hill, where there was then, as later, an Echo Rock, and to
Love's Altar, a shady nook by the stream below the hill back of
the Frederick Wolcott house. Mary Peck, of the Pierce School, has
left us delightful colored sketches of these in her album, preserved
in our Historical Society. They are well worth looking up in the
reproductions given in Mrs. E, N. Vanderpoel's Chronicles, pp. 246
and 248.

"Mr. Lord had built a bowling alley on the west side of the
Prospect Hill road for the benefit of the pupils of both schools, so
we can picture these walks combined with lively bowling matches,

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 127

much like those of later days that were held in the old bowling alley,
back of the United States Hotel". (Vanderpoel, p. 32).

Finally Bantam Lake offered its attractions, made available by
a few boats to be rented for fishing, and occasionally by more pre-
tentious craft for excursions. The following advertisements are
reprinted from Vanderpoel's Chronicles, p. 33:

Monitor, August 24, 1795: "This subscriber informs the public,
and particularly those who either for health or pleasure are dis-
posed to enjoy the water, that he has thoroughly repaired that com-
modious, prime sailing Pleasure Boat, the Pond Lily; and that she
will ply from the northern to the southern shore every day in the
week, (wind and weather permitting). She has good accommoda-
tions for Passengers; and Ladies and Gentlemen, wishing to indulge
in a few hours of healthy and agreeable pastime, will be cheerfully
waited upon. Select companis from the town and country, are
solicited to afford themselves this pleasant relaxation from business ;
and on seasonable notice to the Skipper of the Boat, every required
attention is promised them, by their devoted, humble servant. James
Lee".

"The new and elegant Horse boat, Bantam, having been recently
built for the express purpose of accommodating pleasure parties
on the Bantam Lake is now completely prepared to accommodate
ladies and gentlemen who may wish to take advantage of this safe
and neat mode of taking a trip upon our pleasant waters. Parties
wishing to engage the boat for a trip, must give two days notice to
the subscriber residing at the north end of the Lake. Harmon
Stone, Litchfield, June 27, 1826".

"Bantam Lake, (Great Pond, so-called), being a place of much
resort, the subscriber has fitted up a small establishment, located
on the shore of the northeast extreme of said Lake, in neat order,
for the accommodation of those gentlemen and ladies who may wish
to spend a few hours on and about this beautiful sheet of water.
Frederick A. Marsh, May 28, 1829".

CHAPTER XI I.

IXDUSTUIES AXD MERCHAXTS.

It was not till the clos*? of Litchfield's Golden Age that the cen-
tralizing tendency of Connecticut industries became marked. Prior
to 1840, all the hill towns of the State had a number and variety
of local industries far in excess of what they ever had after that
date. In Litchfield this was peculiarly the case, because of the
important position occupied by the town at the intersection of
several main lines of travel, Elizabeth C. Barney Buel read a
most comprehensive paper on the Industries of Litchfield County
before the Scientific Association in October 1904, from which th(?
following outlines of some of the more important and interesting
activities have been taken.

A general view of local industries is given in the (iazetteer of
the States of Connecticut and Rhode Island, 1810. "The most
impoi'tant manufacture in the town is that of iron, of which there
are 4 forges, 1 slitting mill and 1 nail factory. There are 1 cotton
mill, 1 oil mill, 1 paper mill, 2 cording (carding?) machines, 6 full-
ing mills, 5 grain mills, 18 saw mills, 5 large tanneries, besides sev-
eral on a small scale; 2 comb factories, 2 hatter's shops, 2 carriage
makers, 1 cabinet furniture maker, 3 saddlers, and a number of
house carpenters, joiners, smiths and other mechanics". Morris,
p. 89, repeats this list, adding "1 machine for making Avooden clocks
and 1 cotton manufactory".

This list, however, by no means exhausts the catalog of Litch-
field's industries, even at that early date. The advertisements in
the early Monitors and in the other newspapers reflect an active
commercial life beginning at once after the close of the EcAolution.
Certainly the army stores gathered in Litchfield during the War
involved the presence here of many merchants and emphasized the
important geographical position of the town, as it then was. Situ-
ated at the intersection of the road from Boston and Hartford to
New York with that from Ncav Haven to Albany, the market, at
least for certain commodities, Avas much more than a local one.
In the first issue of the Monitor, December 21, 1784, there are only
three Litchfield advertisements: that of William Russell, stocking
Aveaver, from NorMdch, England, AA^ho announced that he Avas ready
to make "worsted, cotton and linen Jacket and Breeches Patterns,
men's and Avomen's Stockings, Gloves and Mitts"; that of Zalmon
Bedient, barber, who offered cash for human hair, at his shop a
fcAv rods north of the court-house; and that of Cornelius Thayer,
Avho carried on the business of brazier at the shop of Col. Miles

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 129

Beach in North Street, at which shop the jeweler's and silversmith's
business "is carried on as usual by said Beach". Ten or fifteen
jears later these three pioneer advertisements had increased in
number to fill three columns or more, setting forth enterprises of
every variety.

The iron industry is mentioned by the Gazetteer as of the chief
importance. One foundry stood near the site of Miss Van Winkle's
house on North Street, owned by Kussell Hunt and Brothers. The
ore was brought from Kent and Salisbury, in winter on sleds and
in summer on pack horses in leather bags.

There was a slitting mill in Bantam, where the first rolling
and slitting for nails was done by machinery by a secret process.
Bantam can also boast the first machine-made harness buckles.

In Milton there was a puddling furnace owned by Hugh Welch.
In 1860 this was bought by one HinchcliflF, and converted into the
shears shop.

A forge was located in Bantam near the site of the factory of
Plynn and Doyle.

In the Monitor, February 15, 1797, is told the first industrial
disaster of the town. "On Monday the pressure of water and ice,
on the stream leading out of the Great Pond, was so great that it
swept off the dam, bridge and iron-house belonging to Mssrs. Wads-
worth and Kirby, at their slitting and rolling mill. Their loss is
estimated at $2,500, including the suspension of their business the
present season. The damage to the public at large will be much
greater than the individual loss. The great quantity of Cash
put in motion by this factory has a sensible effect on the circulating
medium of this and the neighboring towns. All persons concerned
in the manufacture of Iron have strong reasons to lament this mis-
fortune". Fortunately, a notice in the issue of February 27
announces that by the great exertions of the firm and "the generous
assistance of their friends" they "have nearly repaired the damage
and that on Thursday of the present week they will be again in
motion".

In Bantam lived a certain Phineas Smith, nailor, who advertised
in the Monitor for "one or two faithful Workmen at hammer'd
Nails". These hammered nails were possibly the hand-made nails
that are pulled with such difficulty out of the oaken beams of our
oldest houses. They were of such value that carpenters .of old never
threw them away, but carefully straightened out the used ones and
preserved them for future use.

The building industry had a famous representative in Giles Kil-
bourn, who built the church erected in 1796 on the hill opposite
the Burying Ground at Bantam by the seceding Episcopalians of
the western part of the town, who, during the ministry of Kev.
David Butler, organized the Second Episcopal Society of Litchfield.
Giles Kilbourn died September 13, 1797, and his funeral was the first

130 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

in the new church. He built the houses now occupied by Mrs.
Vanderpoel, Mrs. Harrison Sanford and Charles H. Coit.

Joiners were frequently advertised for by our old cabinet
makers, many of whom signed their names to their work, like artists
or silver-smiths. They had a right to do so, for their work was
hand-wrought and artistic. One of the most noted of these men
was Silas E. Cheney, who died in 1820. David Bulkley and George
Dewey were partners, two doors west of the County House, and their
carving became famous far beyond the limits of the township.
They were succeeded about 1839 by Bulkley and Cooke.

John Mattocks, a Windsor chair maker, half a mile west of the
center, advertised in 1797, taking in exchange for his work "Bass
wood Plank proper for chair seats". Near him and at the same
period, Nathaniel Brown, house joiner, made "Windsor, flddle-back,
dining-room, parlor, kitchen and children's chairs".

Also in 1797 appears the advertisement of Oliver Clark and
Ebenezer Plumb Jr., who "Have taken the shop lately occupied by
Mr. Ozias Lewis, in the main South Street, a few rods below Mr.
Kirby's, — where they intend (if properly encouraged) to furnish
every description of Cabinet Work, elegant and common to fancy
on agreeable terms. They make Heart-back Cherry Chairs from
7 to 9 dollars each; Windsor ditto from 8s. to 15s. each. Pungs
and Sleighs, of any model, on short notice. All kind of Stuff fit
for Cabinet or Shop work, received in payment". The taking of
produce or raw material in payment for manufactured articles is a
frequent feature of the old advertisements, due to the scarcity of
circulating coin in the years following the Eevolution. In 1799,
Oliver Clark was at work alone at the same shop, advertising
"swell'd and straight sideboards, bureaus, chairs, etc., of mahogany,
cherry and other stuff highly finished ; and finishing buildings in the
most approved style of architecture".

The trade of carriage making was a prominent one. There was
a carriage factory at Milton owned by Kalph P. Smith's father and
uncle, located below the Blake Grist-mill. At a very much earlier
period coaches were made at a factory on Chestnut Hill, every part
of the carriage being manufactured on the spot. In 1839, William
Clark manufactured "Carriages, Pedlar and Pleasure Wagons of
all kinds" to order "one door north of the Congregational Church",
and in the same year Ambrose Norton had a carriage shop further
up North Street on the west sida North Street was essentially
the business street in those days, and the street also on which the
jrreatest merchants lived, especially Benjamin Tallmadge and Julius
Deming, each of whom had his store immediately south of his house.
In his Statistical Account, Morris enumerates the carriages in use,
presumably in the spring of 1812 as "1 phaeton, 1 coachee and 46
two- wheel pleasure carriages!" and adds, p. 92, "Waggons, drawn
either by one or two horses, are much used by the inhabitants. The
first pleasure carriage, a chair, was brought into this town by

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 131

Mr. Matthews, mayor of New York, in the year 1776, and is still
in. use here: the first umbrella in the year 1772".

Still another carriage factory was located at the foot of West
Hill, before the tan-yard which was there for so many years.

Tanning was an extensive industry, together with other manu-
factures involving the use of skins and leather. Caleb Bacon adver-
tised, Monitor, May 29, 1799, for a boy "14 or 15 years old as an
Apprentice to the Shoemaking and Tanning Business". Morocco
leather was produced here in those energetic days, and used for
hats, witness another Ad. of the same Caleb Bacon, in the Witness,
July 1, 1806: "The subscriber takes this method to inform his
customers and the public that he is now carrying on the morocco
manufactory in Litchfield half-a-mile north of the Court House
on the great road leading from New Haven to Albany, where he
offers for sale in large or small quantities Kowan Morocco suit-
able for Shoes or Hats, finished in the neatest manner by some of
the best workmen on the continent. Also a few real Goat Skins,
Kid Bindery, etc., Cheap for cash or raw materials, such as Oak
and Hemlock bark, Hides, calf and sheep skins, sumac of this year's
growth (the time to crop which is July and August) and must be
dried like hay free from rain or any wet. Hatters and shoemakers
will do well to call and see for themselves".

There were saddlers and harness makers in large numbers.
But leather was used for many other purposes less to be expected.
Erastus Lord made the first leather pocket-books in this country.
"He moved to Litchfield", Vanderpoel, p. 24, "and continued to make
them at his house on the south side of Prospect Street, where Mr.
MacMartin now lives". His son, Augustus A- Lord worked with
him and later by himself, and finally moved to the center and con-
fined himself to book-binding. For a time his business was very
varied, as shown by an advertisement in the Enquirer, May 6, 1844:
"Blank Book Manufactory. A. A. Lord manufactures to order,
Becords, Ledgers, Journals, Day Books, Waste Books, Grand List
Books, Writing Books, Memorandums, etc. etc. at his manufactory
in Prospect St. He also manufactures Pocket Books of every
description, Among which are Pocket Books, Portfolios, Bill Books,
Memorandum and Merchants' Pocket Books, Gents' and Ladies'
Dressing Cases, etc. Book Binding in all its variety executed in the
most thorough manner. All of the above articles made of the best
of stock, and the workmanship equal to any in the country".

In the Monitor, November 3, 1795, Thomas Trowbridge advertised
for "two or three journeymen Shoemakers who if steady and- faith-
ful will find immediate employ and sufficient wages". His business
was extensive, as is evidenced by an anecdote told of Col. Tall-
madge. The latter was most particular as to his dress, and con-
tinued to wear the small clothes and long stockings of the Revolu-
tionary period long after other men had donned trousers. A neces-
sary accompaniment of this costume was a pair of elegant high

132 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

top boots. He once took such a pair to Trowbridge's shop and asked
him if he could repair them. Mr. Trowbridge assured him that
he could, but the C5olonel was still doubtful as to his ability: "I
bought those boots in New York", he said, "and they are exceedingly
choice". "And I made those boots in Litchfield", was Trowbridge's
answer, "and sold them to the New York trade. I guess I can
mend them!" And the Colonel was satisfied that he could.

Hats were made not only out of Morocco, but from beaver and
lamb's wool. Turning again to the Monitor, August 15, 1798;
"Shear'd Lamb's Wool, Proper for Hatter's use, paid for in cash at
the store of Timothy and Virgil Peck; — who manufacture and have
for sale Hats of prime and inferior quality". And just below
this: "Sam. Seymour and Ozi^s Seymour" also announce that they
have beaver hats for sale and pay cash for lamb's wool and for
"Lambskins with the wool on". There were fulling mills beyond
the North Street iron foundry, where wool was fulled "for hats made
and sold on South Street by Ozias and Moses Seymour. This hat
factory was afterwards moved to the west of the town and owned
by Braman and Kilbourne". (Vanderpoel, p. 24).

Wool was a very important commodity; and wool carding had
to be carefully supervised. In the Witness, June 10, 1806, we find
S. Strong & Co., announcing that they had "again employed Jerry
Kadcliffe to superintend their carding machine, half a mile south
of Capt. Bradley's Tavern. As Mr. Eadcliffe's skill in the business
of carding is well known in this neighborhood nothing need be
said on that point. Our customers are informed that their work
will be warranted well done, conditioned that those who have cause
of complaint inform us previous to spinning the wool — otherwise no
allowance will be made. Wool for carding may be left at Moses
Seymour Jr's store or at the Machine". In 1805, Jerry Radcliffe
had been "carrying on the business of cloth dressing at Marsh's
Mills, half a mile east of the Court House".

"Wool spinning", continues Mrs. Buel, whose notes we are
closely following, "was still done at home, although these other
steps in the process of cloth-making, such as the preparation of the
wool for the wheel, the dyeing of the yarn and the weaving of the
fabric had already begun to pass into the factory or the hands of
specialists". Wool wheels are advertised: "Notice to Farmers.
Cradle and Wheel Manufactory. The subscriber has located him-
self one mile and a half west of the Court House on Harris' Plain,
so-called, where he has on hand Grain Cradles with Scythes or with-
out. Also, Wool Wheels and Reels. On hand, a few dozen Patent
Wheel Heads, with Cast Steel Spindles. . . . Elias Bissell".

There are many advertisements of the dyeing business. At the
clothier's works of Sam. Nevins about a mile north of the Meeting
House, cotton and linen yarn were dyed blue. In 1806 (Witness)
"Ruth Cooper having obtained a complete skill in blue dyeing from

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 133

Lonis Perkins, proposes to carry on the Business in the East part
of this town".

Marsh's Mills, at the foot of East Hill, were dWned hf Ebenezer
Marsh and later by Thomas Addis, Clothier, who, according to his
advertisements, "executes all branches of the trade including weav-
ing".

In the last years of the eighteenth century we get an interesting
announcement in the Monitor, December 2, 1798, showing not only
the low ebb of the clothiers' business, but an early attempt at a
commercial pooling of prices: "Notices to Clothiers. The Clothiers
of the County of Litchfield are requested to meet at Mr. David
Buel's, in Litchfield, on the third Monday of December instant at
1 o'clock, P. M. The suffering interest of the trade, in common with
other artizans, by means of their labour bearing an inadequate pro-
portion to the rate of Produce, etc., requires immediate remedy; and
the object of the meeting being principally to establish uniformity in
prices, it is hoped every person interested will punctually and point-
edly attend".

David Buel, here mentioned, was a man of many enterprises. He
was for a time joint publisher with Thomas Collier of the Monitor;
dealt in ladies' Stuff Shoes; exchanged sole leather for cash or
flax; and was the Litchfield Agent for one of the State lotteries, for
raising money for public works, as was then the unquestioned cus-
tom in pious Connecticut.

Flax was still abundantly raised. Ephraim Kirby and Benja-
min Doolittle owned an oil-mill where they "exchange the best Lin-
seed Oil for Flax Seed". (Monitor, January, 1798). In 1805 Moses
Seymour Jr., also ran an Oil Mill.

There was a cotton mill near the foot of South Hill, owned by
Samuel Sheldon, a brother of Colonel Elisha Sheldon, and near it
was a papier mache factory. Julius Deming started a paper mill
in Bantam, in which Elisha Horton, who took part in the Boston
Tea Party, was the foreman. Samples of the paper made by him
are in the collections of the Litchfield Historical Society.

In Milton there was a button mill opposite the grist mill, while
grist mills were dotted throughout the country. "Anti-Come-Off
Coat and Pantaloons Buttons, a new article", were advertised at
A. P. P. Camp's, in the Enquirer, June 3, 1841, but history is silent
as to whether they were locally made.

About 1842 Simeon S. Batterson came to Litchfield with his
family from New Preston and, with his eldest son James Gr. Batter-
son, established and for some years maintained a marble yard on
the East side of Meadow Street. Specimens of their work can still
be seen in some of the Litchfield houses. From Litchfield they
removed to Hartford, where James G. Batterson became one of the
leading business men. He organized, and for many years was
President of, the Traveler's Insurance Company, He was the
builder of our present State Capitol, and of many other public build-
ings in Hartford and elsewhere.

134 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Becord also survives of a brick-yard half-a-mile west of the
Court House, where in 1798 John Russell offered bricks in lots of
from 15,000 to 50,000. There was also a piano factory about a
mile west of town; at least a depression in the ground is shown
where such a factory is reputed to have stood.

It is a pity that the memory of many such curious old enter-
prises is quite lost. One would also like to know what became of
the silk worms which Jedediah Strong advocated in prose and
verse, some of which he claimed to be raising at his Elm Ridge
house,

A highly successful business at one time was that of the gold
and silversmiths. Samuel Shethar, Isaac Thompson, Reuben Mer
riman, Timothy Peck, William Ward and Benjamin Hanks were the
best known of these workers in gold, silver and brass. Some of
their silver spoons are still in use. In 1903, the Mary Floyd Tall-
madge Chapter, D. A. R., held a large and interesting exhibit of
locally owned silver, including specimens by several of these men.
They were nearly all active somewhere between 1795 and 1805.
Among many other things, Shethar manufactured those silver
Eagles, the nation's arms, which were the emblem of the Federalists
and were worn in the hat by both men and women during the bitter
war between the Federalists and the Democrats. Undoubtedly these
sold well in Litchfield in 1806. Another of these men, Benjamin
Hanks came from Mansfield, Conn., to this town in 1778, remain-
ing only till 1785, when he returned to Mansfield. While here he
was a clock and watch maker, and contracted for and put up the
first clock in the city of New York: on the old Dutch Church,
Nassau and Liberty Streets. The clock was unique, having a wind
mill attachment, his own patent, for Avinding itself up.

We should not overlook the many industries of Northfield in the
old days. These include, since 1798, spinning wheels, clocks, tin-
ware, linen goods, nails, brick, cider brandy, flutes, wagons, car
riages, coffins, leather goods, try squares, clothespins, knitting
machines, butter and cheese, harness snaps, and cutlery, of which
only the last survives.

To sum up the commercial industries of the Golden Age in
Litchfield we are fortunate in having an accurate summary of those
still active in 1845, at the very end of the period. This is found
in a book prepared by Daniel P. Tyler, Secretary of State at Hart-
ford, from the returns of the local assessors, entitled "Statistics of
Certain Branches of Industry in Connecticut for the year ending
October 1, 1845". The abbreviations used are: C. for capital; E.
for employee; F. for female; M. for male; and V. for value.

Woolen Mills, 2; machinery, 2 setts; wool consumed 11,000 lbs;
satinet m'd, 11,000 yds; V. $8,000; flannel m'd, 2,981 yds; V,
$1,490.50; woolen yarn m'd, 500 lbs; V. $300; C. $6,000; M.E. 7; F.E. 3.

Casting Furnace, 1; ware cast, 30 tons; V. $2,250; C. $5,000;
E. 7.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 135

Paper Factory, 1; stock consumed V. $3,500; paper m'd V. $8,000;
C. $15,000; E. 10.

Musical Instrument Factory, 1; V. of m's, $8,000; C. $15,000;
E. 16.

Saddle, Harness and Trunk Factory, 1; V. of m's, $1,000; C.
$500; E. 2.

Hat and Cap Factory, 1; No. m'd 2,000; V. $3,000; C. $1,000;
E. 6.

Car, Coach and Wagon Factories, 7; V. of m's, $21,900; C.
$10,900; E. 31.

Soap and Candle Factory, 1; soap m'd, 100 bbls; V. $300; tal-
low candles m'd, 600 lbs; V. $50; E. L

Chair and Cabinet Factory, 1; V. of m's, $3,000; C. $2,000; E. 5.

Tin Factories, 2; V. of m's, $4,000; C. $2,000; E. 3.

Linseed Oil Mill, 1; oil m'd, 2,000 gallons; V. $2,000; C. $2,000;
R 1.

Tannery, 1 ; hides tanned, 1,765 ; leather m'd, V. $5,605 ; C. $5,650 :
E. 7.

Boots m'd, 1,286 pairs; shoes, 2,167 pairs; V. $7,500; E. 20.

Bricks m'd, 110,000; V. $500; E. L

Snuff, Tobacco and Segars m'd, V. $1,400; E. 2.

Lumber prepared for market, V. $3,079.

Firewood prepared for market, 4,549 cords; V. $9,098.

Flouring Mills, 4; C. $8,000.

Marble made into grave stones, V. $3,000; E. 3.

Suspenders m'd, 6,300 doz; V. $26,100; C. $5,000; M. E. 9; F.
E. 50.

Mittens and Gloves m'd, 800 doz; V. $4,800; C. $4,000; E. 4.

Sperm oil consumed in factories, 192 gals; V. $192.

Sheep, all sorts, 3,278; V. $2,570; wool produced, 15,714 lbs; V.
$5,499.90.

Iloryes, 565; V. $16,273; neat cattle, 4,969; V. $51,231; swine,
2,714; V. $21,604.

Indian Corn, 24,777 bu; V. $20,564.91; wheat, 55 bu. V. $82.50;
rye, 8,748 bu, Y. $7,260.84; barley, 226 bu. V. $136.80; oats, 29,920 bu;
V. $12,566.40; potatoes, 46,713 bu; V. $11,678.25; other esculents,
36,713 bu; V. $6,118.83.

Hay, 7,830 tons; Y. $93,960; flax, 1,046 lbs; V. $104.60.

Fruit, 32,710 bu; V. $400; buckwheat, 9,316 bu; V. $4,658.

Butter, 126,314 lbs; Y. $18,947.10; cheese, 352,262 lbs; V. $21,135:
honey, 1,000 lbs; Y. $100; beeswax, 100 lbs; V. $28.

Benjamin Tallniadge, Julius Deming and Moses Seymour were
perhaps the three largest merchants in the town. The picturesque
figure of Col. Tallmadge directs attention to him in particular.

Henry Ward Beecher wrote of him: "How well do we remember
the stately gait of the venerable Colonel of Kevolutionary memory!
We don't recollect that he ever spoke to us or greeted us, — not
because he was austere or unkind, but from a kind of military
reserve. We thought him good and polite, but should as soon have

136 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

thought of climbing the church steeple as of speaking to one living
so high and venerable above all boys!" (Litchfield Revisited, 1856).
Col. L. W. Wessells has also left us a boy's impression of him:
"When a small boy, I have often seen him on horseback, a remark-
ably handsome figure and splendid horseman. He wore small
clothes and top boots, with shirt ruffled at bosom and wrists, and
we urchins looked upon him as something very nearly God-like.
He made me a present of the first cock and hen of the Poland
variety ever brought to Litchfield, and I was, of course, inflated
with pride and the envy of every boy far and near". (Connecticut
Quarterly, September, 1896).

In his Personal Memories, p. 135, E. D. Mansfield wrote of him :
"He was one of the gentlemen of the old school, with the long queue,
white-topped boots, and breeches. After the war he had retired to
Litchfield, and was one of the most marked as well as dignified
men who appeared in that aristocratic town. When the Western
Reserve of Ohio was set off to Connecticut and sold for the school
fund, he became a large owner of lands there, and a township wa«
named after him".

Col. TaUmadge was in business with his brother, John Tall-
madge, who lived in Warren, and was postmaster there. The wide
range of goods covered in their importations is proved by a single
one of their many advertisements in the Monitor, November 7, 1792:

"Cheap Goods! The subscribers having supplied their stores at
Litchfield and Warren, with a large and general assortment of Euro-
pean and West-Indian Goods, now offer them for Sale at a very
small advance for paj^ in hand, or on a short credit. Besides a great
variety of other articles, not mentioned, they have on hand a large
assortment of: Twill'd plain and striped Coating; Superfine and low
priced Broadcloths; London Kersemiers; Scarlet, crimson and green
Baizes, double and single; Yellow and white Flannels; Rattinetts,
Shalloons, Antiloons; Durants and Tammies, twill'd and plain, of
various colors; Moreens, Taboreens, Joans; Black Russell, Calli-
manco, Sattinette, Lastings, Velvets, Thicksetts and Cords, Twil'd
and plain; Fustians, Janes; Hat Linings, Scarlet, blue and light
colored Shagg; Wildbores, Cordurett and Camblett of various col-
ors; Elegant tambour'd vest patterns; Toylonetts; silk, cotton, hemp
and thread Hose, ribb'd and plain; Chintzs, Callicoes, Furniture
ditto. Printed Linen, diversified in figure and quality; Best India
Sattin, wide and narrow, twill'd, plain and vellum Modes; Sarsa-
nettes, silk and thread, wide and narrow, edging and laces; Chinz
and purple Shawls; Ribbons of all colors and qualities; Furs and
Trimmings; etc., etc., etc., etc., any or all of which will be sold by
the piece, pattern, or single yard. Also a very general assortment
of Ironmongery and Hardware; a very extensive and general assort-
ment of crockery and Glass Ware; 6 by 8 and 7 by 9 Window Glass:
Looking Glasses handsomely gilt ; large Family and smaller Bibles ;
Testaments and Psalm Books; Websters Institutes, by the gross.

JVI.IUS Dt.MING

f ^

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 137

dozen or single book; AUum; Copperas; White and Red Lead; Span-
ish White and Spanish Brown; Redwood; Logwood; Fustick and
Nickaragua; Hyson, Shushong and Bohea Teas, by the chest or
smaller quantity; Loaf and Brown Sugars, by the Hund. or lb.;
Chocolate; Ginger; Pimento; Pepper; Snuff; Tobacco; Cotton Wool;
Indigo; Old Spirits, St. Croix, St. Vincents and Grenada Rum, Wine
of different qualities, and molasses. Best Holland and Geneva, do
Nantz Brandy, by the Hogshead, pipe, bbl, or gal. For further
particulars please to call on the subscribers, Benj. Tallmadge and
Co."

Both Col. Tallmadge and Julius Deming made their importations
<lirect from abroad, which was very unusual in those days, and
would be enterprising today. Together, on one occasion, they
imported a cargo of horses from England, to improve the stock in
this country. Julius Deming himself went abroad to select goods;
on his trip home he was wrecked, and wisely decided never to go
near salt water again. This did not prevent his joining with Oliver
Wolcott Jr. and Col Tallmadge, however, in a far-reaching enter-
prise, the Litchfield China Trading Co. This was after the expira-
tion of Oliver Wolcott's term as Secretary of the Treasury of the
United States in 1800, when he took up his residence in New York.
Each partner contributed an equal share, but the Company was
directed principally from New York. They purchased the ship
Trident, as their first vessel, and commenced shipping Pillar Dollars,
the only available export to China at the time, bringing back the
usual products of that country. The company was a successful
one, but was dissolved in 1814, possibly as a result of the Embargo
Act of 1812-13.

After this Oliver Wolcott returned to Litchfield, and was active
in various enterprises with his brother, Frederick Wolcott. They
were associated in the improvement of agriculture and the introduc-
tion of improved breeds of stock, particularly the Devon and Dur-
ham cattle and the Merino sheep, of both of which they were
importers. (Wolcott Memorial, p. 318).

His services as Governor again interrupted his commercial ven-
tures at home, but when his terms aggregating ten years were fin-
ished he once more undertook an extensive experiment. This was
the manufacture of woolen cloth at Wolcottville (Torrington).
Although this Avas disastrous financially, it was the foundation of
the present industrial prominence of our neighboring borougli. The
experiment terminated in a lawsuit, which was tried in Litchfield
before Judge David Daggett, The Judge was an ardent Federalist,
and the jury was opposed politically to Wolcott. It was at this
trial that Judge Gould made his last appearance as Counsel. He
conducted the case against Wolcott, and carried the Jury with him.
Judge Origen S. Seymour, then a young man, attended the trial,
and felt that Judge Daggett's conduct of the case was partisan.
On reviewing the matter, however, in later years, he not only modi-
fied, but reversed his opinion". (Book of Days, p. 184).

138 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Newspapers.

The following notices of the several newspapers issued in Litch-
field are taken from the Catalogue of the Litchfield Historical
Society, 1906:

WEEKLY MONITOE AND AMERICAN ADVERTISER. Collier
and Copp, Printers. Began Dec 21, 1784. The Monitor, with
variation in name and size of paper, continued for twenty two
years. On Sept. 15, 1788, Thomas Collier, who had been for
some years the sole printer, associated with him one Adam.
April 27, 1789, the partnership was dissolved and the paper
suspended until Nov. 17, 1789, when Collier again became the
printer. Jan. 18, 1792, the Monitor was published by Collier
and Buel, who continued until the last issue of the paper, 1807.

WITNESS. Selleck Osborn and Timothy Ashley, Editors and Pub-
lishers. Began Aug. 14, 1805. Discontinued, 1807.

LITCHFIELD GAZETTE. Charles Hosmer and Goodwin, Printers.
Began March 13, 1808. Discontinued May 17, 1809.

LITCHFIELD JOURNAL. Published by I. Bunce. This was a
non-partisan paper, but proved unsuccessful, and upon May 12,
1819, the Litchfield Republican was commenced. In 1821 the
Miscellany, in continuation of the Litchfield Republican
appeared in a smaller size sheet than the former paper. This
continued until Feb. 2, 1822, when 'for one year from this date
the profits arising from the circulation of this paper are
bestowed on a young man of this village in order to assist in
completing his education'. The Miscellany, or Juvenile Folio,
was published on Feb. 9, 1822. The following is taken from
the 6th of March 1822: 'The Miscellany or Juvenile Folio is
published at I. Bunce's bookstore by the proprietor. The profits
of the circulation are for one year transferred to Henry Ward.
Terms, 871/2 cents at the ofi'ice. No paper to be discontinued
until arrearages are paid'. On July 31, 1822, H. Ward 'abandons
the paper' and for a time there was none published. I. Bunce,
as publisher and editor, on Sept. 9, 1822, commenced the publi-
cation of the American Eagle, which was moved to New Haven
on March 7, 1826.

THE DEMOCRAT. Melzar Gardner, Publisher. Began Nov. ?,.
1833. Discontinued Sept. 13, 1834.

THE SUN. John M. BaldAvin, Publisher and Printer. This paper
commenced on Feb. 7, 1835, and continued under the same man-
agement until Sept. 9, 1837, when S. G. Hayes became printer and
publisher. From June 9, to Oct. 6, 1838, it was discontinued,
and the last issue of the paper is April 20, 1839.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 139

THE ALEKCUKY. C. E. Morse and Co., Printers. This paper
began its existence on Jan. 16, 1840, and on Aug. 20, 1840, was
sold to Josiah Giles, who became editor and publisher. The
Mercury was discontinued on April 7, 1842. Josiah Giles began
on Jan. 20, 1844, the publication of the Democratic Watchman,
which was discontinued the same year.

LITCHFIELD EEPUBLICAK J. K Averill began the New Mil-
ford Kepublican in 1845, and the next year moved to Litchfield
where he continued his paper under the name of Litchfield Kepub-
lican. He afterwards, 1856, moved to Falls Village, and con-
tinued his paper as the Housatonic Kepublican. After he
moved away, W. F. and G. H. Baldwin continued the paper as
publishers and proprietors. With the 13th number Henry
Ward appeared as editor, but in 1853 Albert Stoddard became
editor and publisher, with Henry Ward as associate. On Sept.
14, 1854, Franklin Hull was publisher, with himself and Henry
Ward as editors, and on April 4, 1856, Franklin Hull assumed
full charge as editor and publisher.

LITCHFIELD SENTINEL. Published in Litchfield by John D.
Champlin Jr., as editor. YoL No. 1, is dated 1865. Champlin
continued as editor until February 2, 1866, when he associated
with him George H. Baldwin, who published the paper. On
February 3, 1867 Champlin again took charge of the paper and
continued it alone until April 30, 1869, when Solon B. Johnson
took up the paper as editor. John E. Farnham bought the
paper in 1869, and continued the publication until May 7, 1875.

THE LITCHFIELD ENQUIRER. The Litchfield County Post was
established in 1825 by Stephen S. Smith from Poultney, Vt.
He disposed of the establishment to Joshua Garrett, who after
publishing the Post for a few weeks sold out to Henry Adams.
In 1829, Mr. Adams changed the name of the paper to the
Litchfield Enquirer, which it still bears. During this time
it was a five-column folio. It was the only regular paper
published in Litchfield county. Mr. Adams was drowned while
fishing in Bantam Lake and was the only editor who died "in
the harness". He was immediately succeeded by his brother,
Chas. Adams, in 1843. In October, 1845, the paper was sold
to I'ayne Kenyon Kilbourne, v/ho conducted it until ••ill health
caused by many arduous duties caused him to sell" in March,
1853. The new proprietor, H. W. Hyatt, changed the heading
from plain block style to the same as the text which has been
used ever since. In March, 1856, the size was changed to a
larger sheet. On Sept. 4, 1856, he sold to Edward C. Goodwin.
On May 1, 1858, Chas. Adams again took the editorship and
associated with him Henry E. B. Betts. Oct. 13, 1859, James
Humphrey Jr., bought the paper, and his foreman was Alex-
ander B. Shumway, who held that position under succeeding

140 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

owners practically up to the time of his death, February, 1912,
excepting when he was in service during the Civil War. Mr.
Humphrey enlarged the paper to seven columiis^ a little sfllaller
than the present paper. In 1865, the paper passed into the
hands of Wing and Shumway, under whose management it
remained for one year, when Geo. A. Hickox bought the paper
and secured Mr. Wing as editor. One year later Mr. Hickox
commenced the duties of proprietor and editor, which he con-
tinued for twenty five years and changed its size. In 1891
he sold the paper to C. R. Duffie Jr. In October, 1894, it
was sold to George C. Woodruff, who has since continued the
paper. Mr. Woodruff immediately changed the make-up of the
paper and in February, 1918, enlarged it to its present size of
eight pages of six columns each.

GkoKCK r. WcmnRrFF (Tr.K ElUTdK LnCHKlKIJ) ENOUIRtR

Frederick Wolcott

CHAPTER XIII.

THE AVOLCOTT FAMILY.

In his Memorial Address about the late Governor Roger Wol-
vott of Massachusetts, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge said of the Wol-
cott family: "We have one of the rare instances of a family which
starting in America with a man of fortune and good estate always
retained its position in the conununity. In the main line at least
it never encountered the vicissitudes which attend nearly all families
in the course of two hundred and fifty years. The name has never
dropped out of sight, but was always borne up by its representa-
tive in the same place in society as that held by the founder. More
remarkable still, in almost every generation there was at least one
of the lineal male descendants of the first immigrant who rose to
the very highest positions in military, political and judicial life.
The list of Judges, Governors, Generals, Cabinet officers and mem-
bers of Congress in this pedigree is a long and striking one. From
the days of the Somersetshire gentleman to those of the present
generation, which has given a Governor to Massachusetts and a bril-
liant Senator from Colorado to the United States, the Wolcotts,
both as soldiers and civilians, have rendered service to their country,
as eminent as it has been unbroken. , . . Here is a long roll of honor
where the son felt that he would be unworthy of his father if he
did not add fresh lustre to the name he bore by service to his state
and country either in the hour of trial or in the pleasant paths of
peace".

This was the heritage of Oliver Wolcott Sr., when he first came
to Litchfield in 1751; just as it has been the heritage of every mem-
ber of the family before and since. He belonged to the fourth
generation of Wolcotts in this country, the original settler, Henry
Wolcott, who came over from Somersetshire in 1630, being his great-
grand-father. His father was Roger Wolcott, Governor of Con-
necticut from 1750-54. So far as we can now tell, the attention of
Roger Wolcott was first directed towards Litchfield in 1725, when
John Marsh and others presented their Memorial to the General
Court asking that the non-resident Proprietors of the town be made
responsible for their share of its defence and support. Major
Roger Wolcott was appointed to the Committee to consider the
Memorial and soon after, when non-residents who failed in their
duties to the new settlement were to be deprived of their rights in
the town, he was appointed chairman of the Committee "to take
account of all forfeitures that shall arise by force of this act,
and upon the non-payment of the same, to make sale of the lands"

142 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

in question. Later he purchased a farm on South Street, includ-
ing the present Wolcott property and considerable land on the
other side of the Street. No account remains of his having been in
Litchfield in person, though it would seem very probable that he
had been here, either in connection with his appointment of 1725,
or to visit his farm, or to visit his son after the latter came to
Litchfield in 1751.

Roger Wolcott died May 17, 1767. In his Will, dated July 18,
1761, he left to Oliver "all my land in Litchfield, and all my land
in Hartford, and all my land in Colebrook, and all my land in
Windsor that lies in the Equiuelent to him & his heirs forever. I
also give him my Silver Can".

Oliver Wolcott Sr. began his career as a physician. When it
seemed probable that the seat of the new County would be fixed at
Goshen, he went there and began practice, but as soon as the County
Seat was established at Litchfield he came here. He was chosen
Sheriff of the new County, 1751.

The following account of him is given by his friend, James
Morris, (p. 108-9) : "He was born in Windsor, December 1726. . . .
He represented the town in the General Assembly, in the year
1770. In the year 1772, he was chosen a member of the Council.
In 1772, he was appointed Judge of Probate, for the district of
Litchfield. In the year 1774, he was appointed Judge of the Court
of Common Pleas. In the year 1775, he was chosen a Represnta-
tive in Congress, and was present at the declaration of Indepen-
dence. He continued a member of the Council till the year 1786,
and was then chosen Lieutenant Governor of this State. In

this office he continued till the year 1796, and was then chosen
Governor; and in this office he died December 1, 1797. The

duties of all these stations, he discharged with unshaken integrity
and firmness; courted favors from no man, and neither sought,
nor obtained, any end by intrigue, or from interested motives.
He was singularly modest, and even diffident, in his intercourse
with men, in the common walks of life. Those who best knew this
gentleman, well knew that the highest trust was never improperly
placed in him. Two questions only were asked by him, while discharg-
ing the duties of the several offices of high responsibility which he
held, viz. What is right? and, What is my duty? He possessed a
benevolent heart, and was warm in his friendships; a firm friend
to order; a promoter of peace; a lover of religion; and a tried,
unshaken friend to the institutions of the Gospel. He was an
indefatigable student; and neither wasted his time nor his words.
His mind was clear and penetrating; his views of political sub-
jects, just and comprehensive; his discernment of the wisest means
to promote the best ends, ready and exact; and his acquaintance
with science, particularly with Theology, extensive. He had a
remarkable talent at investigations, and nothing satisfied him but
proof. He has left a name, which is a sweet savor to his surviving
friends".

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 143

No mentiou of Oliver Wolcott Sr. is adequate, which fails to
speak of his wife, Lorraine, or Laura, daughter of Capt. Daniel
Collins, of Guildford. She was related, though not closely, to
Timothy Collins, the first minister in Litchfield. She was a

woman of remarkable strength of character and executive ability.
Oliver Wolcott's long absences in the discharge of his many varied
duties were made possible primarily by her capable handling of
the home. She cared for the children, directed the servants and
slaves, managed the farm, kept up the hopes of her circle through
the most trying days of the Kevolution, with an unshaken faith
and energy which it is not easy to picture to-day.

There were five children. Oliver, born 1757, who died an infant ;
Oliver, born January 11, 1760; Laura, born 1761, who mar-
ried William Mosely of Hartford; Marianu, born 1765, who mar-
ried Chauncey Goodrich of Hartford, afterwards Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor of the State; and Frederick, bom November 2, 1767.

Oliver Wolcott Jr. left an autobiographical sketch of his boy-
hood in Litchfield, written when he was over seventy years old,
which is so interesting both as a picture of Litchfield from a boy's
point of view, and as a picture of the boy who was to become so
distinguished, that it is unfortunate that it cannot be included here
entira It will be found in the Wolcott Memorial, pp. 222-227, and
should be read by all, especially the account of his trip to New
Haven.

"My Mother and Grandmother learned me to speak early; I
could read before I was four years old, and was proud of my
acquirements. The School House was in the street near the N. W.
corner of my Father's Home-Lot, and was about twenty rods from
home. The street was nine or ten rods wide, and the hillocks were
covered with whortleberry bushes, which were tall enough to hide a
young man or boy from observation. It was an excellent place for
truants, and used for that purpose by many of the larger Boys
of the School. When I had attained the age of six or seven years,
I was told that it was time for me to go to School, and was flattered
by my Mother that my learning exceeded that of Boys twice my
age, I was accordingly dressed in my Sunday habit, and set out,
whip in hand, on a Monday morning. I was the smallest and
most slender boy who appeared, with a pale face and white hair.
The Master was a stout, rough man, and I think it probable that he
was a foreigner. When I was called before him, he, judging from
appearances, took me between his knees, and with a ferule and
Dilworth's Spelling Book in his hand, offered to instruct me in
spelling words of several syllables. My astonishment and indigna-
tion exceeded all bounds; I considered it as the greatest possible
indignity. I had no conception that a Schoolmaster, whom I deemed
a great personage, could be so ignorant as not to know that I
could read in the Testament. I remained mute, and stifled my
proud sobs as well as I was able. The Master supposed that he

144 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

had put me too far forward, and turned me back to words of one
syllable. My wrath increased, and I continued silent. He tried
me in the Alphabet; and as I remained silent, he told me that
I came to learn to read, and that I must repeat the words after
him, or he would whip me. He actually struck me, supposing mc
to be obstinately mute; my sobs nearly broke my heart, and I was
ordered to my seat. Some of the boys tried to console me, and
others laughed. I left the School with the most decided disgust,
resolved never to enter it again.

"I evaded going to School as long as possible; and when I did
go, I hid myself in the bushes. At length the Master enquired why
I had left the School. This brought out my explanation; and
such were my horror and antipathy, that my parents judged it
proper to excuse me, and I was soon sent to another School, kept
by a Miss Patterson, whose mild and conciliating manners attracted
my aflfections. ... At about eleven years of age I went to the Gram-
mar School, which was kept by Nathaniel Brown Beckwith, a
graduate of Yale College. ... I was far from being a student. One
of the eldest and stoutest Boys was still less so; he and the Master
were attached to Fishing and Hunting. Trouts, Partridges, Quail.
Squirrels both grey and black, and in the season Pigeons and Ducks,
were in great abundance. To these sports all our holidays wen?
devoted, and I engaged in them with great alacrity, in which the
Master joined on the footing of an equal. In this course I con-
tinued till, in the summer of 1773, Master Beckwith pronounced me
fit to enter College. . . .

"When I got back to Litchfield", he had made the trip to New
Haven and wisely decided not to enter the College for another year,
"it took a long time to recount all the wonders I had seen, — the
grandeur of New Haven, its numerous Streets, beautiful Trees,
Shrubbery and Flowers in the House Yards, the Vessels at the
Long Wharf, and the peculiar dress and language of the Mariners.
With one of these I had formed an involuntary acquaintance, which
cost me a shilling. The wharves of a mud harbor presented no
prospect of the Sea; to mend my prospect, I climbed a part of the
way up one of the strands, when I felt a Sailor below me, who was
tying one of my legs to what I considered a rope ladder. He did
it mildly and silently. As I could move neither up nor down, I
soon began to lament, which brought my companions to my aid-
They desired the Sailor to untie and let me down. He enquired
who I was, and why I had climbed his Vessel without his liberty.
I assured him that I intended no harm, and was ignorant that I
was doing wrong; that I was a boy from the Country, and having
seen the sea on coming to New Haven, I was desirous of seeing its
shores. The sailor said, that as it was the first time I had been
on board a Sea Vessel, and had seen and smelt the Salt Water, I
ought to pay what he called beverage; that he would require but
a Shilling, though if I was a Scholar, he would exact three Shillings.
I agreed with joy to his demand, and was instantly let down, amidst

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 145

the hearty laughter of his comrades; it seemed no unusual occur-
rence, so my friends joined in the joke. The Sailor told me that
no person ought to pay twice, and that if I found myself tied up
again, and called upon him, he would see me liberated without
expense. When I had recounted my travelling News to my School
Mates, I was advised to resume my Studies, and repeat my travel-
ling Stories out of School hours, which I thought but reasonable. . . .

"I had now passed the infantine period, and was between thir-
teen and fourteen years of age. I was no longer a Child, but a
Boy, and hoped soon to be a Man. I found myself useful to my
Mother. I could drive Cows to and from Pasture, ride the Cart
Horse to Mill, bring in light wood and chips for the kitchen fire,
and rock the Cradle, when necessary. . . .

"Sunday was to me the most uncomfortable day of the Week,
from the confinement in dress and locomotion which it imposed
on me. After Prayers and Breakfast, I was taken by my Mother
to the Wash Tub, and thoroughly scrubbed with Soap and Water
from head to foot. I was then dressed in my Sunday Habit,
which, as I was growing fast, was almost constantly too small.
My usual dress, at other times, was a thin pair of Trousers, and a
Jacket of linsey-woolsey; and I wore no shoes, except in frosty
weather. On Sunday morning, I was robed in a Scarlet Cloth
Coat with Silver Buttons, a white Silk Vest, white Cotton Stock-
ings, tight Shoes, Ruffles at the Breast of my Jacket, and a cocked
Beaver Hat with gold lace Band. In this attire I was marched
to the Meeting House, with orders not to soil my Clothes, and to
sit still, and by no means to play during meeting-time.

"Parson Champion succeeded Parson Collins, our first Minister,
Doctor, and Justice of the Peace. Mr. Champion was a pleasant,
affable man, and a sonorous, animated Preacher. I liked loud
preaching, and suffered only from the confinement of my Sunday
dress. Mr. Champion not unfrequently exchanged Sunday services
with a neighboring Parson, whose performances were most uncom-
fortabla They were dull, monotonous, and very long; in the after-
noon they frequently extended to two hours. As I was not allowed
to sleep during meeting-time, my sufferings were frequently extreme.

"After service, new toils awaited me. Our Sunday was in fact
the old Jewish Sabbath, and continued from sunset to sunset. In
the interval, from the end of services in the Meeting House till
Sunset, my Father read to the Family from the Bible or some
printed Sermon, and when he had done, I was examined by my
Mother in the Assembly's Shorter Catechism. When this task was
ended, I was allowed to resume my ordinary Habit. It exhilarates
my spirit, even at present, to think of the ecstacies I enjoyed when
I put on my Jacket and Trousers, and quit my Stockings and Shoes.
I used to run to the Garden Lawn or into the orchard; I would
leap, run, lie down on the grass, in short, play all the gambols of a
fat calf, when loosened front confinement".

146 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

After his services in the Revolution, he left Litchfield in 1781
and "proceeded to Hartford, where he accepted a clerkship in the
office of the Commissioners of the Pay Table. The following year
he was appointed one of the board. In May 1784 he was selected
one of the commissioners to adjust the claims of Connecticut against
the United States; his colleagues were Oliver Ellsworth and Wil-
liam Samuel Johnson.

"The abolishment of the Commissioners of the Pay Table caused
him to be appointed in 1788 Comptroller of Public Accounts; this
office he resigned to become Auditor of the United States Treasury.
He was afterwards made Comptroller and in the spring of 1791 he
declined the presidency of the United States Bank. On the resig-
nation of Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury in 1795,
Grovemor Wolcott succeeded him, holding the office until November
8, 1800. Two years later he removed to New York City, engaged
in mercantile pursuits, ammassed a fortune, and became the first
president of the Bank of North America. After the close of the
second war with England, he returned to his native town, where
in company with his brother he founded large woolen mills near
Torrington. For ten consecutive years he was elected to the
gubernatorial chair; on his retirement from this office, he returned
to New York City, where he died June 1, 1833. Grovemor Wolcott
was the last survivor of Washington's Cabinet, and the last link in
the chain that represented the principles of the founders of the
republic". (Connecticut as a Colony and a State, by Forest Mor-
gan, 1904, Vol. Ill, pp. 108-9).

The late Hon. Joseph Hopkinson, one of his distinguished
political associates, thus wrote respecting him: —

"Oliver Wolcott was a man of a cheerful, even playful, disposi-
tion. His conversation was interesting and earnest, but gay unless
the occasion was unfit for gaiety. He enjoyed a good joke from
himself or another, and his laugh was hearty and frequent. He
delighted in the discussion of literary subjects, and the works of
distinguished authors, and was particularly fond of poetry. . , . His
domestic life was most exemplary; his greatest happiness was in
his family, with the friends who congregated there. His devotion
to the business and duties of his office was severe and unremitting.
He possessed, in a high degree, a very rare qualification, the capacity
for continued hard work, and was in everything systematic and
orderly. His attachments to his friends were strong and lasting,
never taxing them with unreasonable exactions. He was open and
direct in all his dealings, without duplicity or intrigue in any-
thing; his sincerity was sure, he deceived nobody. His political
opinions were the honest convictions of a man of undoubted integrity,
of distinguished intelligence and high attainments, and, above all,
of a true and sincere lover of his Country". (Wolcott Memorial,
p. 307).

His home in Litchfield, during the short periods of his resi-
dence there, was always the scene of a large hospitality of which he

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 147

was the presiding genius. He lived in the house built in 1799 by
Elijah Wadsworth on a part of the Wolcott farm. He enlarged
the house considerably in 1817. The house was later thai, of Col.
George B. Sanford, and is now owned by Mrs. Harry G. Day.

We insert here a quotation from a 'Letter of Digestion' of that
day, written by Josiah Quincy, Boston, September 30, 1801, after
a visit to the house: "Sir; We reached home in four days from
Litchfield, and found nothing terrible on the Hartford side of your
hills; nothing which the recollection of the attention and pleasure
we had received from our visit did not make appear trifling
obstacles. It is impossible for Mrs. Quincy and I (sic) not to
reckon the time passed at your house as the most delightful part
of our excursion, as well as not to dwell upon your promise to give
us in the Spring, by a long visit, a chance of returning a few
of those many kindnesses which you and Mrs. Wolcott found means
to extend in so short a time. ..."

The fact that Governor Wolcott had been elected on the Demo-
cratic or Toleration ticket set him apart a little from some of the
most uncompromisingly Federalist (families. The second Mrs.
Lyman Beecher, on first coming to Litchfield (December 1817) wrote
of him: "The Governor resides here. He has honored me with a
call. He is a Toleration man. Comes half a day to meeting and
no more. . . . We heard the Governor was going to invite us to his
house, but at a party where we went, he did not like our manage-
ment of closing the evening with prayer and singing, and so has
given it up".

Oliver Wolcott Jr. married in 1785 Elizabeth, only daughter of
Capt. John Stoughton. They had five sons and two daughters,
but with the death of the sons, three of them in infancy, and of
two grandsons, his male line reached an untimely end.

Mrs. Oliver Wolcott Jr. was a very beautiful and charming
woman. When he announced his engagement to his father, the
elder Wolcott answered: "Litchfield, January 10, 1785, Sir: Your
letter of the fourth instant is received. The Character of the
young Lady, whom you mention as the Object of your Affection,
justifies your Choice, and receives the Approbation of your Par-
ents. And if you shall wait upon her here, when you shall come to
see us, it will increase the pleasure of the Visit. Yours, Oliver
Wolcott".

The testimony to her beauty is universal. In the diary of
Caroline Chester, a pupil at Miss Pierce's in 1816, (Vanderpoel, p.
153), we read: "Mrs. Wolcott called and very politely asked Mrs.
Sheldon to peraiit me to take tea with her. . . . The party was
large. Though Mrs. Wolcott was the only married woman in the
room, yet no one would have thought her the oldest for she looked
very beautiful".

She "belonged to a class of women of whom Connecticut could
then boast many, whose minds were formed, and habits of reflection
directed by men; and without coming within the category of female

148 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

politicians, they had been almost from childhood familiar with
questions of public and general interest. An anecdote of Uriah
Tracy, whose sarcasms were of old dreaded alike in the Senate Cham-
ber and the drawing-room, has been preserved, commemorative at
once of Mrs. Wolcott's attractions and his own peculiar wit. Mr.
Liston, the British Minister, who was thorougly English in his
ideas, on some occasion remarked to him: 'Your countrywoman,
Mrs. Wolcott, would be admired even at St. James'. 'Sir', retorted
the Senator from Connecticut, 'she is admired even on Litchfield
Hill!'" (Gibbs, Federal Administration, Vol. I, p. 162).

That Litchfield girls and women are unusually beautiful is a
statement the truth of which has been confined to no single gener-
ation. We are as proud of it to-day, as ever was Mr. Tracy. It is
interesting to trace the growth of the observation of this happy
phenomenon. In the diary of a Law student, George Younglove
Cutler, August 18, 1820, (Vanderpoel, p. 195), we read: "Evening,
Miss Tallmadge here — is certainly elegant — there is no such woman
in New Haven — Litchfield is certainly an extraordinary place for
beauty — the mountain air gives them the expression of health &
that is the principal ingredient".

We think too that perhaps even Lyman Beecher had heard about
the ladies of Litchfield, for immediately after arriving here, March
5, 1810, he wrote at once to reassure Mrs. Beecher : "There are many
agreeable women here, but none so handsome or pleasing as to
occasion a momentary wandering of my heart from the object where
it has so long and with such satisfaction rested". (Autobiographv,
Vol. L p. 190).

Good, faithful Mr. Beecher; all the newcomers to Litchfield
have not been as constant ! When James Gould first came to Litch-
field, he was present one day at the Court House. Uriah Tracy
was in the Court room, and watched the handsome young lawyer
with admiration. He asked him to lunch, at his home where possi-
bly his daughter surprised him by monopolizing some of Mr.
Gould's attention. We can let Mariann Goodrich tell the rest,
just as she wrote it to her favorite brother, Frederick Wolcott, in
1794, (Wolcott Memorial, p. 333) : "New Haven folks, especially
the women, are most terribly angry at Mr. G. for quitting Miss W.
They say he has been engaged to her seven years, and now he writes
her a civil letter informing her that he has been so unfortunate as
to fall in love with Sally T., and cannot possibly fulfill his promise
to her Ladyship — and so wishing her a great deal of happiness he
bids her adieu. I had several reasons for taking the man's part,
which I did with some zeal. I told them it had always been an
established practice with the Litchfield Ladies to steal the hearts
of all the Gentlemen who came here, and that I thought a New
Haven Lady must have a degree of modest assurance to expect
to keep her sweet-heart after he had seen the Litchfield beauties!"

The friendship between the charming and very sprightly Mari-
ann Wolcott and her brother Frederick continued as warm after

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 149

she married Chauncey Goodrich, and their letters form one of the
most fascinating chapters in the delightful Wolcott Memoirs. They
are not adapted for quotation in a history concerned primarily with
Litchfield, and we must turn rather to speak of Frederick Wolcott
as a citizen. He is described as having been a very retiring and
modest man, almost diffident, taking after his father in that respect,
but in the discharge of many public duties in Litchfield he was
very active. He was for instance our County Clerk for forty three
years, surpassing his immediate predecessor, Isaac Baldwin by just
one year of service. These two men held the office consecutively
from the formation of the County, 1751, until the year before Fred-
erick Wolcott's death, 1836, eighty five years in all. Frederick Wol-
cott was also Judge of Probate for forty one years. He declined
the nomination for Governor of the State on two occasions, when
it was tendered him by a convention of his political friends ; in both
cases their final nominee was elected. Probably no man in the
State had a stronger hold on the confidence and regard of his fel-
low-citizens. He felt that his health was inadequate to the cares
and responsibilities of positions more important than the many
which he discharged so well. He also loved his home in Litch-
field and was loath at any time to leave it and the pleasures of his
family life there. He lived in his father's house, which, after
having been out of the family for some years, is now owned by
his grand-daughter. Miss Alice Wolcott of New York.

Frederick Wolcott was twice married, first in 1800 to Betsey,
daughter of Col. Joshua Huntington of Norwich, who died in 1812,
and in 1815 to Mrs. Sally Worthington Cooke, daughter of Kev.
Samuel Goodrich. He had four daughters and five sons. One of
the latter was the donor of the fund which made possible the estab-
lishment of the Public Library here.

His four daughters and his second wife weie especially known
for their many varied charms. Mrs. Wolcott was fitted for Yale
College when she was twelve years of age, and cried because she
could not enter that institution. In Litchfield, with her daughter
and three step- daughters she is said to have "sat as a queen sur-
rounded by her maids of honor".

Of the four Wolcott girls, E. D. Mansfield, wrote, (Personal
Memories, 1879, pp. 129-130), "One of my temptations to an after-
noon walk was to meet the girls, who, like ourselves, were often
seen taking their daily walk. Among these, were the Wolcotts, the
Demings, the Tallmadges, the Landons, and Miss Peck, who after-
wards became my wife. ... Of the Wolcotts there were four, and
I think now, as I did then, that I never beheld more beautiful
women than were Hannah and Mary Ann Wolcott. Many a time
have I met them on North Street when it was a pleasure to look
upon them, with the clearest complexions of white and red, the
brightest eyes, with tall and upright forms, and graceful walk.
These ladies would have attracted admiration in any place of the
world- The two other Wolcotts were also very handsome".

ISO THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Mary Ann Wolcott, who afterwards was very happily married to
Asa Whitehead of New Jersey, must not be confused with her
charming Aunt, Mariann Wolcott Croodrich. At this time, 1820,
Mary Ann had an unfortunate love affair with Henry W. Livingston,
a very wealthy Law student from New York. "I remembei*", writes
George Younglove Cutler, (Vanderpoel, p. 197-8), "when he first
went to Litchfield, I was in his room opposite M. A.'s door, we
were looking out and saw them — she & the amiable Hannah — L.
remarked, *I suppose these young ladies, L e. the ladies of this
village, depend upon law students for their husbands — I will be
very careful they do not ensnare me' — within three weeks he was
engaged to M. A. & talked to me of Father W."

The engagement was summarily broken a few weeks later. "It
is probably the interference of friends", continued Cutler, "who
have caused the mishap in this case — if I was an Emperor I would
hang such a man". Though the affair caused a great excitement
at the time, Mary Ann Wolcott was undoubtedly fortunate and she
took the experience with the spirit characteristic of her family. Six
weeks later Cutler could write: "A charming visit at Mary Ann
W's — how interesting! how beautiful! how much improved in her
personal appearance. I could not help telling her my opinion — In
return she reciprocated my compliments — which T always like —
she is one of the finest looking females I ever saw".

.Wi.

CHAPTER XIV.

SLAVERY.

The question is sometimes asked whether slavery was ever gen-
eral in Litchfield. We find no evidence that it was. After the
Revolution slaves were still employed quite generally in the North,
but the majority of families in our town were not in a position to
keep slaves, even if they had been inclined to do so. Probably the
greatest number of slaves here was during the ten years following
the war. In 1800, there were only seven left in the town, and
probably the last one was emancipated soon after that date. The
sentiment in the North was undergoing a rapid change at this time.
Earlier, the keeping of slaves had been a matter of course; but at
this date, both law and sentiment were turning with increasing
momentum against the custom. George C. Woodruff, in his Resi-
dents of Litchfield, gives a list of 29 slaves, with their owners'
names, and their dates of birth, ranging from 1777 to 1801.

Two Tallmadge receipts for young slaves are preserved. One
is a bill of sale from John Shethar for 36 pounds for a negro boy
named Prince, seven years old, dated May 19, 1784. The other is
a bill of sale from Ezra L'Hommedieu, for a negro girl named Jane,
thirteen years old, dated March 10, 1787.

In the Wolcott household, the slaves, and later the free colored
servants were apparently numerous. There is an interesting letter
from Oliver Wolcott Jr., to his mother, written from New York two
months after the marriage of his sister Mariann: "I can easily
judge", he says in part, "from niiy own feelings, that your own
situation, since the removal of my Sister, must be in some respects
lonely and disagreeable. But as you will be able to hear frequently
from her, and must be perfectly satisfied with the character of Mr.
Goodrich, I feel not so much anxiety on that account, as from the
multiplied attention which you will give to the family servants,
with which you are burdened. I must request that your humanity
to them be not so particular as to suffer your health to be impaired
on their account. If any measures consistent with propriety can
be taken, to prevent an increase of that kind of trouble, it is surely
your duty to attempt them". (Wolcott Memorial, p. 237, Letter of
December 21, 1789).

It would appear from this letter that the Litchfield slaves were
very kindly looked after. This is confirmed by the lack of notices
in the press of run-away slaves. Only one of these is established:
In the Witness for October 23, 1805, John Bird of South Farms

152 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

advertised a $20. reward: "Ran away on the 21st instant about
midnight, a man slave, by name Tom, who has long lived with my
father, Doet. Bird". This advertisement was continued weekly
for upwards of three months, so that Tom probably was not found.

In the Monitor of June 7, 1797, David Welch of Milton adver-
tised for the return of "a midatto servant Jep 21 years old, about
five feet 7 or 8 inches high, understands the trade of a Bloomer, will
probably seek employment in that business". But this was not
necessarily a slave.

The consideration of the Litchfield slave owners in liberating
their slaves when they considered them able to look out for them-
selves is shown in the following document of the elder Oliver Wol-
cott, notable also for its early date:

"Know all men by these Presents that I Oliver Wolcott of Litch-
field in the State of Connecticut in expectation that my negro Servant
Man Caesar will by his industry be able to obtain a comfortable
subsistence for Himself and that he Avill make a proper use of the
Freedom which I hereby give him Do Discharge liberate and set
free him the said Caesar and do hereby exempt him from any further
Obligation of servitude to me my heirs and from every other person
claiming Authority over him by from or under me — and that my
said servant whom I now make free as aforesaid may be known
hereafter by a proper Cognomen I hereby give him the name of
Jamus so that hereafter he is to be known and distinguished by the
name of Caesar Jamus. As Witness my Hand and Seal in Litch-
field November 23, A. D. 1786".

As the slaves were freed they became in many cases useful and
desirable members of our community. At least three figure on the
Honor Roll of the Revolution. These are Cash Africa, George
Negro, and Jack Negro. The name of the first of these is so unusual
that we would gladly know more of him. After the War, May 19,
1788, we find a contract between him and Col. Tallmadge for services.
One Jeph Africa lies in the East Cemetery, and the stone is still
legible: "Here lies the body of Jeph Africa, servant of the Rev.
Judah Champion, who died June the 5th, 1793". This stone appears
to have caught the eye of Nathaniel Hawthorne when he visited
Litchfield in 1838, though if it be the same one he misread it; the
page he devotes to Litchfield is so interesting as giving his impres-
sions that it is here quoted at length, though concerned with matters
not immediately pertinent to the story of Africa: (Am. Notebooks,
Wayside Edition, p. 201).

"In Connecticut, and also sometimes in Berkshire, the villages
are situated on the most elevated ground that can be found, so that
they are visible for miles around. Litchfield is a remarkable instance,
occupying a high plain, without the least shelter from the winds,
and with almost as wide an expanse of view as from a mountain-
top. The streets are very wide, two or three hundred feet, at
least, with wide, green margins, and sometimes there is a wide

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD I53

green space between the two road tracks. Nothing can be neater
than the churches and houses. The graveyard is on the slope, and at
the foot of a swell, filled with old and new gravestones, some of
red freestone, some of grey granite, most of them of white marble,
and one of cast-iron with an inscription of raised letters. There
was one of the date of about 1776, on which was represented the
third-length, bas-relief portrait of a gentleman in a wig and other
costume of that day; and as a framework about this portrait was
wreathetl a garland of vine-leaves and heavy clusters of grapes.
The deceased should have been a jolly bottleman; but the epitaph
indicated nothing of the kind.

"In a remote part of the graveyard, remote from the main body
of dead people, I noticed a humble, mossy stone, on which I traced
out 'To the memory of Julia Africa, servant of Rev.' somebody.
There were also the half obliterated traces of other graves, without
any monuments, in the vicinity of this one. Doubtless the slaves
here mingled their dark clay with the earth.

"At Litchfield there is a Doctor who undertakes to cure deformed
people — and humpbacked, lame, and otherwise defective folk go there.
Besides these, there were many ladies and others boarding there,
for the benefit of the air, I suppose". While on this digression, it
should be added that the hospital for cripples here referred to was
at the present Mrs. W. H. Sanford house. It was established in
1832 by Dr. Alanson Abbe.

Of the Africa family we know nothing further. In the Wood-
ruff list we find a slave, Cash, belonging to Col. Ebenezer Marsh.
It may be that he accompanied CoL Marsh to the War, and so
gained his position on the Honor Roll. Col. Marsh had another
slave, Nim, the first colored man in town, reputed to have killed
three deer at one shot.

Evidence of Litchfield's reputation for generous treatment of
slaves, if any were needed, is furnished by the story of Old Grimes,
here abbreviated from Kilbourn's Bench and Bar, pp. 329-330:

William Grimes was a run- away slave who came to Litchfield
about 1808, and became a general servant to the students at the
Law School. Judge Reeve had acquired a reputation for defend-
ing fugitive slaves, and several came here simply from hearing about
him. Grimes was thrifty and bought a piece of land west of the
Fire Department building, to which he moved a small building
which he used as a barber shop. His former master found him
out some fifteen years later and attempted to recover him. He was
obliged to dispose of his property through his friends. Dr. Abel
Catlin and William H. Thompson, who used the proceeds to purchase
his freedom. He left Litchfield and removed to New Haven, where
he continued to serve the students at Yale College. He published
a sketch of his life, and always seemed to enjoy his own picturesque-
ness. When Albert G. Green, of Rhode Island, afterwards United
States Senator, was a student in Litchfield, he had the reputation

154 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

of being a great rhymester. Old Grimes hearing of this importuned
him to write a poem about him, which he did, and which became
famous as an epitaph written before the fact. Kilboum gives nine
stanzas and there were perhaps more; here are four of them:

Old Grimes is dead — that good old man.

We ne'er shall see him more;
He used to wear a long black coat

All buttoned down before.

He lived in peace with all mankind,

In friendship he was true;
His coat had pocket-holes behind,

His pantaloons were blue.

But good old Grimes is now at rest,

Nor fears misfortune's frown;
He wore a double-breasted vest,

The stripes ran up and down.

His neighbors he did not abuse,

Was sociable and gay;
He wore large buckles on his shoes,

And changed them every day.

The last survivor of the freed slaves around Litchfield was
probably Tom Jackson, a former slave of Col. Tallmadge, who lived
with his wife and a daughter on the Milton Boad. He died there
some time after 1857.

Another class of servants, both white and colored, were known
as Indented Servants. These were persons who sold their services
for a definite period of time in return for a cash contract or some
other equivalent. We find many of these old contracts. "Indenture
for Mistic boy, named Ebo, from his mother to Benj. Tallmadge,
April 7, 1785"; and again "Indenture between Benjamin Tallmadge
and Euth Woodhidl for services, November 25, 1788". More often
young boys were indented as apprentices, pledging a certain period
of service, in return for the teaching of a trade. Occasionally, men
or boys who wished to come over to this country, sold themselves
to the ship captains for their passage across the Atlantic. They
were called Bedemptioners. On arrival their pledged service in the
form of an indenture would be resold by the captain at auction
or private sale. Col. Matthew Lyon, who figured in public life as
Congressman from Vermont and Kentucky, was an Irish boy who
came over in this manner. He was sold for a pair of stags, valued
at 12 pounds, to Hugh Hannah of Litchfield, and he stayed here
for ten years before going to Vermont. He died August 1, 1822.

Many apprentices ran away, and the columns of our early papers
often contained advertisements for their return. They were prob-
ably troublesome enough to their masters, and the small amounts

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 155

of the rewards offered may indicate that the masters were not
especially keen for their return, the advertisements being put in
merely out of duty to the parents who had indentured them. The
smallest reward noticed is for a girl : "Ran away from the subscriber
on the 6th instant, an indented girl, 12 years old, by the name of
Sarah Moss. She has blue eyes, light hair, and is hard of hearing. . .
Whoever will return said Girl to the Subscriber shall have twenty
cents reward and no charges paid. All persons are forbidden har-
boring said girl on penalty of the Law. Reuben Webster. Litch-
field, Aug. 9, 1805". (Witness).

Indented servants could be sold, like slaves, for the unexpired
terms of their contracts. We close this account of the servant
problems of 120 years ago with a sample advertisement for a sale
of this character:

"For Sala Eight Years and Six Months Service of an indented
Mulatto Girl, at the expiration of which period she will be 21
years and 6 months old. She is of middling size, strong and healthy,
and has been brought up to housework. Her present owner not
having sufficient employ for her, she will be sold on easy terms at
the moderate price of 34 pounds, payable by instalments, in sheep
or young cattle, for two thirds, the residue in cash. Inquire of the
Printer". (Monitor, October 18, 1797).

CHAPTER XV.

THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT.

On May 9, 1789, a Temperance Association was formed in Litch
field in an endeavor, as the pledge signed on that occasion states,
"to reform a practice which leads so many to poverty, distress
and niin". Such an Association would be of interest to us in
any event owing to the very early date at which it was formed;
but it gains added significance because it can be considered as pre-
paring the soil in which Lyman Beecher, thirty seven years later,
initiated his far more famous crusade against intemperance. It
is perhaps well to say a little more about this pioneer movement
than would be necessary had it led no further.

In those early days drinking was considered an absolute neces-
sity if only to counteract the rigorous climate of our hill country.
Thus, for example, the very year of the Temperance Association,
Oliver Wolcott Sr. writes from Litchfield in a letter of advice to
his son, Oliver Jr., when the latter first went to New York as
Auditor of the National Treasury, (Wolcott Memorial, pp. 185-6) :
"November 24, 1789, Sir; . . . Your Service will be complicated and
arduous . . . You may therefore safely indulge yourself with as
much Exercise and Relaxation, as will be necessary for your
Health. Endeavor to preserve the mens sana in sano corpore, by
indulging at times a certain Vacancy of Thought, etc. As to your
Mode of Living, I need say but very little; your Habits of Temper-
ance will render it unnecessary, only this you will recollect, that
there are many old Men in Connecticut, who have drank Cider for
three quarters of a Century, who are active and almost blooming,
and exempt from all Gout, Rheiunatism, and Stone; while the drink
ers of beer and Spirits die soon, and in misery. Simple Diet and
fermented Liquors, except rich Beer, will with the moderate use
of water, be always found to be best, especially for sedentary
persons".

It was not thought possible for the average workman to keep
his health without a very considerable amount of rum or cider to
restore the vitality consumed in his physical work ; the non-laboring
class also assumed that it could not live through a Litchfield winter
without a large consumption of stimulants. It was a matter of
much concern some years when the apple crop had been small, and
when orchards at best were limited, how the necessary supply of
cider was to be obtained. Among the letters of Oliver Wolcott Jr.
to his brother, Frederick Wolcott, in the Litchfield Historical

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 157

Society, is one from Washington specially urging him to get an ade-
quate supply from Harwinton while it was still possible to buy
cider there.

Even at the raising of the Meeting Houses no work could be
done without a liberal distribution of rum. The classical instance
of this occurs in connection with the raising of the second Church
by the South Farms Society in 1785. In April of that year, the
Society voted, "that the meeting house committee shall have good
right to furnish Rum, Grindstones, and Ropes sufficient for framing
the meeting house according to their best discretion". And in June
of the same year, the Society appointed an Overseer, to direct the
issue of liguor at the raising, and voted, "that the overseer shall
give two drams per day to the spectators, one a little before noon,
the other a little before night". Th'?y entered upon the work with
such spirit, that the Meeting House was finished in twenty weeks
after they began the frame. This distribution was a regular part
of all community movements. The first attempt to do away with
it was in connection with the raising in 1829 of the third Congre-
gational Church, three years after Lyman Beecher had preached his
Temperance Sermons, and it was not a success. "A hogshead of
small beer had been brewed in the cellar of Galpin and Goodwin's
store, across the street, an innovation which did not meet with
popular approval. There was a crowd of people around the church
cellar, but not enough hands could be found who would lift even
the ground timbers into place. TMien the strike was seen to be
thoroughly 'on' Dr. William Buel asked William Norton and some
other boys to go to his store and bring over a certain box, which
the lads found to be very heavy. When the doctor evened it and
the company saw a case of liquors, there were plenty of men ready
to handle the largest timbers! The last day when the spire was
raised there were two or three Shaker tubs of rum punch set at
the east end of East Park with little tin cups near by. . .". (Miss
Esther H. Thompson in Waterbury American, March 8, 1906).

The Association of 1789 was naturally the subject of a good
deal of banter. An echo of this appears in one of the sprightly
letters of Mrs. Chauncey Goodrich (Mariann Wolcott) to her brother
Frederick Wolcott (Hartford, August 13, 1793) : "I hope you will
attend to Papa's health and encourage him in moderate exercise and
to live generously. It is supposed that Mr. Sherman and Gen. Wol-
cott brought on their disorders by too great temperance in living.
I hope our Father will be a comfort to himself and a blessing to
us for a long time. My duty and Love to him and to my Mother".
(Wolcott Memorial, p. 331).

But there was another side to the picture, in the men, some
of them, as it happened, very prominent ones, who fell victims to
intemperance; and unquestionably it was these examples that led
to the inception and growth of the temperance movement. The
most signal case was that of Jedediah Strong.

158 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

The picture of Judge Strong drawn for us by Kilbourne (pp.
147-150) is not an attractive one, but his story at least deserves
pity. He was bom in Litchfield in 1738, and spent his whole life
here; he graduated at Yale in 1761, and was the second native of
Litchfield to receive a coll^ate degree. He first studied divinity,
but, being early elected to a town office, he abandoned his studies
for the more congenial pursuits of a politician. With only his own
skill to help him, he soon acquired and long maintained a political
ascendency second only to that of Wolcott and Adams. An imperi-
ous will, an affectation of power and a faculty of making himself
popular all contributed to his success. His diminutive figure, limp-
ing gait, and unpleasant countenance were in some measure atoned
for by his promptness and tact in the discharge of the public busi-
ness. He was a good penman, then an important qualification,
familiar with legal forms, and held possibly as many public offices
for as long terms as any of our citizens. Many of these will be
found in the Appendix. His habit of intoxication gradually grew
on him and led him to poverty and degradation. He is said at
one time to have been a beggar and a charge on the Town. He was
twice married, his daughter. Idea Strong, remaining to the last his
chief comfort. He died in 1802, and was buried in the West Bury-
ing Ground, but no trace of his grave remains.

Already in 1789 his habit of intemperance was proverbial, and
it is possible that the Association was formed in part at least to
try to give him the support of his fellow townsmen in an attempt to
reform himself. It is at least noticeable that while the other signers
put all their names together at the foot of their pronouncement,
Judge Strong signed a separate statement after them. The original
pledge is given at length in Woodruff's History, p. 50. Among the
signers were Ephraim Kirby, Julius Deming, Benjamin Tallmadge,
Uriah Tracy, Ebenezer Marsh, Moses Seymour, Daniel Sheldon,
Tapping Keeve, Frederick Wolcott, Lynde Lord, and John Allen.

The separate pledge of Judge Strong was as follows: ''By
Necessity and on Principle, in consequence of little experiment and
much observation, I have effectually adopted and adhered to the
salutary plan herein proposed during several months past, and am
still resolved to persevere until convinced that any alteration will
be productive of some greater good, whereof at present I have no
apprehension whilst Human Nature remains the same".

His good resolves were of short duration. In 1790 he was
arrested for ill treatment on the charge of his second wife, Susannah,
daughter of George Wyllys, then Secretary of State at Hartford. He
was afterwards sued by her for a divorce, which she obtained, the
trial being held in New Haven, In spite of all his misfortunes,
he remained something of a character to the end, and we may per-
haps quote from his Will, dated March 31, 1801, as it is one of the
most unconventional ever filed in this Probate District. It is
mainly occupied with pious reflections and counsels addressed to his

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 159

daughter. "And finally", he adds, "that worldly wealth or earthly
estate which it has pleased the Universal Proprietor to commit to
my temporary care and stewardship on the sublunary, probationary
theatre, (or the remnant fragments after so much spoliation of envy,
Covetousness, Oppression, or whatever mistake in extreme career of
permitted human vicissitude), my most mature and deliberate
option and volition is, that disposition be made as follows: I
recommend, give and bequeath, to my beloved daughter, Idea Strong,
my Bibles and inferior Orthodox Treatises on Beligion and Morality,
or relative or appertaining to Vital Piety or Practical Godliness,
and all other Books, Pamphlets or Manuscripts, except Eomances,
if any be left extant, which I have long since, (though not soon
enough), intentionally consigned or destined to deserved oblivion
in native shades of chaos". The amount of his worldly wealth,
says Kilbourne, as per inventory, was $96,66; while as an offset to
this, claims against him to the amount of a few hundred dollars
were sent in.

No good purpose can be served by detailing the circimistances
of all those who were in the minds of the men who kept alive the
temperance movement between the original pledge of 1789 and the
Beecher__Serinons^jjl_1826. Reference should however be made to
another very distinguished lawyer, John Allen, a signer of the
pledge of 1789, who in his last years yielded to intemperate habits,
and lost his business and wealth, dying at the farmhouse north of
Town to which he retired.

He was a striking figure, in many respects the very antithesis
of Judge Strong. David S. Boardman, in his Sketches of the Early
Lights of the Litchfield Bar, 1860, describes him as follows: "He
was six feet four or five inches high, very erect and with an atti-
tude and walk well calculated to set off his full stature, and though
quite lean, weighed full 230 pounds. His countenance was strongly
marked and truly formidable, his eyes and eyebrows dark, his hair
dark, what little he had, and indeed his whole appearance was cal-
culated to inspire dread rather than affection. His manner and
conversation were, however, such as to inspire confidence and respect,
though little calculated to invite familiarity, except with his inti-
mates, of whom he had few, and those, knowing the generous and
hearty friendship of which he was capable, were usually much
attached to him and ready to overlook all his harsh sallies, imputing
them to the 'rough humor which his mother gave him'. His feelings
Avere not refined, but ardent, generous and hearty. His friendships
were strong and his aversions equally so ; and his feelings were all of
the great sort". He was born in Great Barrington, Mass., in 1762.
After teaching school in Germantown, Penna., and in New Milford,
he came to the Law School in Litchfield, and remained here for the
rest of his life. He attained a high eminence, but was content to
confine his practice almost entirely to Litchfield County, though he

i6o THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

practiced in other parts of the State in special cases of importance
to which he was called.

It would appear that his case influenced Lynian Beecher to a
consideration of the temperance question, just as that of Jedediah
Strong influenced the men who formed the Association of 1789.
Another influence on Beecher was furnished by the conditions he
found within the church itself, especially in connection with what
was then considered a necessary form of hospitality at such gather-
ings as the Ordination of new ministers. Here is the description
he has left us of the first ordination he attended after coming to
Litchfield, that of Mr. Hart in Plymouth, (Autobiography, I., pp.
245-6):

"At the ordination at Plymouth, the preparation for our crea-
ture comforts, in the sitting-room of Mr. Hart's house, besides food,
was a broad sideboard, covered Avith decanters and bottles, and
sugar, and pitchers of water. There we found all the various kinds
of liquors then in vogue. The drinking was apparently universal.
This preparation was made by the Society as a matter of course.
When the Consociation arrived, they always took something to drink
round; also before public ser\'ices, and always on their return. As
they could not all drink at once, they were obliged to stand and
wait as people do when they go to mill. There was a decanter of
spirits on the dinner table, to help digestion, and gentlemen partook
of it through the afternoon and evening as they felt the need, some
more and some less; and the sideboard, with the spillings of water,
and sugar, and liquor, looked and smelled like the bar of a very
active grog-shop. None of the Consociation were drunk; but that
there was not, at times, a considerable amount of exhilaration, I
cannot affrim. When they had all done drinking, and had taken
pipes and tobacco, in less than fifteen minutes there was such a
smoke you couldn't see. And the noise I cannot describe; it was
the maximimi of hilarity".

A temperate man himself, Lyman Beecher had never been an
advocate of total abstinence. "Two leading members of his own
church", says Miss Esther H. Thompson, Waterbury American,
February 22, 1906, "Capt. Wadsworth and Deacon Bradley, kept a
tavern and a grocery store in Bantam, where fermented and dis-
tilled liquors flowed freely as was then the universal custom in such
places. Unseemly carousals were common, in one of which there
was a battle wherein salted codflsh figured as weapon, adding
thereby no dignity to the church, and deeply grieving the wife of
Capt. Wadsworth, who was the sister of Deacon Bradley. She was
a woman of superior intellect, deep piety, and early became a
believer in total abstinence. It is said that her influence was
potent in arousing Dr. Beecher to see and to preach against the evil
of intemperance. But he was especially led to sentiments so
much in advance of the age by the scruples of his friend and
parishioner, Hezekiah Murray, from the Pitch. This man owned
a Still. Noticing the evil effects of its product on the young men

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD i6i

of the neighborhood, he forbad his own sons to drink from it. Then
he questioned, 'if distilled liquor was bad for his children, was it
right to put it before the sons of his neighbors?' and he came to
Dr. Beecher for advice. At first the minister, in accordance with
the almost universal opinion of the time, argued strongly in favor
of moderate drinking. But the subject was before him and 'would
not down'. After weeks of careful thought and study, there

thundered from the pulpit the memorable Six Sermons on Intemper-
ance, which we are told were afterwards extensively circulated on
both sides of the Atlantic, and started a movement which has
never stopped".

No man in the country was more earnest or fearless in his
attacks on anything which he had definitely decided for himself to
be an abuse. He had previously, in 1806, while at East Hampton,
after the Burr-Hamilton duel, led the attack against the then uni-
versal custom of dueling. This reform, strange as it may seem to
us to-day, was considered a more radical departure than his later
crusade in behalf of temperance, but that story is not a part of the
History of Litchfield-

Of the Six Sermons themselves, we need speak only in Dr.
Beecher's own words; "I didn't set up for a reformer any more than
this: when I saw a rattlesnake in my path, I would smite it", and
elsewhere, (Autobiography, II., p. 35) : "I wrote under such power
of feeling as never before or since. Never could have written them
under other circumstances. They took hold of the whole congre-
gation. Sabbath after Sabbath the interest grew and became the
most absorbing thing ever heard of before. A wonder: of weekly
conversation and interest, and, when I got through, of eulogy. All
the old farmers that brought in wood to sell, and used to set up
their cart-whips at the groggery, talked about it, and said, many
of them, that they would never drink again".

With the Six Sermons and the departure of Lyman Beecher
the same year for the wider field of his activities in Boston, the
question of temperance passes out of the History of Litchfield.

CHAPTER XVI.

FEDERALISTS AND DEMOCRATS,

In Litchfield, as in every other community, party spirit has
from time to time run high, in connection with local, state and
national elections. In general, no special interest attaches to these
incidents once the questions which have been at issue are settled.
Only in one instance has the storm of party feeling in Litchfield
had an effect outside the borders of the township. This was the
bitter fight between the Federalists and the Democrats, which first
reached high water mark in 1806, in the imprisonment at Litchfield
of the Democratic editor of the Witness, Selleck Osborn; which had
its effect upon the establishment in 1814 of the Phoenix Bank in
Hartford, with its branch in Litchfield, now our First National
Bank; and which culminated with the election in 1817 of Oliver
Wolcott Jr. as the first Democratic Governor of Connecticut and
the ratification of a new Constitution for the State in the follow-
ing year.

The election of Jefferson as President in 1801 had started the
tide of party feeling running higher throughout the country than
at any time since the Revolution. Perhaps this feeling was less
marked in Connecticut than elsewhere; for in this State the govern-
ment was solidly Federalist, and while every act of the new party
was met with condemnation, the Democrats were treated more with
disdain than opposition. The Democrats were however a rising
force everywhere, and they had no intention of neglecting Con-
necticut. They were well organized, they had complete faith in
Jefferson and in themselves, and where they thought it advisable
they were absolutely careless of the methods they used to arouse
feeling and to win votes. At this day it seems as if much of the
feeling was due as largely to the methods they used as to the actual
principles involved.

One of the dominant strongholds of Federalism, in this strongly
Federalist State was Litchfield. Moses Seymour was at first the only
citizen of prominence who was a Democrat, though many of the
younger men and very many of the workers in the mills were Demo-
crats. Practicallj' all the men of the families of Avealth were Federal-
ists. The Congregational church was also strongly Federalist. Orig-
inally the so-called religion tax, which was a part of the regular tax,
was applied exclusively to the benefit of the Congregational church
throughout the State. In many parts of the State, as in Litch-
field there was no other church. Since 1729 other sects could pay
their religion tax for the support of their own ministers instead

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 163

of all having to pay for the Congregational preacher, and later each
denomination was allowed to pay its tax in its own way and at
separate rates. "In effect, the Congregational was the 'established
church' of Connecticut. There were the outward symbols too, as
witness the election-day services for generations in the First Church,
Hartford, when all the Congregational clergy in the state marched
in the procession with state officers and soldiery; and there never
was an election sermon by aught except a Congregationalist till
that by Dr. Doane the year of the new constitution, 1818". (First
Century of the Phoenix Bank, pp. 14-15).

It is not to be wondered at then that politics got into the pulpit.
Years before, when Jefferson was elected as the Vice-President with
John Adams, Judah Champion prayed for "Thy servant, the Presi-
dent of the United States", and then added fervently, "Oh! Lord,
wilt Thou bestow on the Vice-President a double portion of Thy
grace, for Thou knowest he needs it".

The Episcopal Church, corresponding with the Church of Eng-
land was generally considered as being a Tory body, and to carry
on the distinction, it was usually identified with the Democratic
party. The distinction between the two churches was of course not
a true one, however convenient politically, for in the Kevolution
there were happily patriots in every church, and later the Demo-
crats were found in increasing numbers in every church. The best
Americans were too sensible to share in these distinctions. "The
church of St. Michael in Litchfield, was a mark (in the Revolution)
for the maliciously disposed; and its windows stood as shattered
monuments of the vengeance of adversaries. When General Wash-
ington passed through Litchfield the soldiers to evince their attach-
ment to him threw a shower of stones at the windows; he reproved
them, saying: 'I am a Churchman, and wish not to see the church
dishonored and desolated in this manner. ' (Mrs. Anna Dickinson,
ill Saint Michael's Centennial Pamphlet, Nov. 5, 1845, Appendix).

When, after Jefferson's election to the Presidency, the Demo-
crats determined on the systematic invasion of Connecticut, they
staged a series of political rallies, which they called Festivals. Of
these Tapping Reeve wrote, (The Litchfield Festival, 1806) : "It has
been fashionable ever since the organization of the Democratic party,
for their leaders to appoint public meetings and festivals, which
all are invited to attend, and on which great numbers constantly
do attend. Thus in March, 1801, a festival in honor of the election
of Mr. Jefferson as President, and Mr. Burr as Vice-President, was
holden at Wallingford; in 1802 a like festival was holden also at
Wallingford; in 1803 at New Haven; in 1804 at Hartford to cele-
brate the purchase of Louisiana; in 1806 at Litchfield to celebrate
the independence of the United States; and in 1804 a great number,
denominated the representatives, from 97 towns were convened at
New Haven by order of the then State Manager to devise means for
forming a new Constitution for this State".

i64 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

The festival in Litchfield was elaborately staged. Timotliy
Ashley, an editor, was sent to Litchfield, where he started a news
paper, the Witness, on August 14, 1805. He was evidently not
considered sensational enough, for presently another editor was sent,
Selleck Osbom, Together, the two men made a tremendous stir.
Apparently Ashley did the work in the office on South Street, while
Osborn furnished the sensations. He started in Avith a rush that
would have done justice to the most radical or sensational paper
ever published since, evidently trying to draw out the Federalists
to some action which would lay them open to criticism. The more
prominent citizens always appeared under nick-names: Col. Benja-
min Tallmadge figured as 'Billy Bobtail', Judge Gould as 'Jimmy
Dross'; and Julius Deming as the 'Crowbar Justice', so called on
account on a supposedly rigid insistence on justice in the matter of
the price of a crowbar bought from a political opponent as they came
out of a tempestuous town-meeting. (Miss Thompson in Water-
bury American, March 1906). The nicknames given to some other
residents of the town and printed weekly in the Witness were such
as could not appear in print to-day. Osborn began to achieve
results promptly, as might have been expected. Going into the
Tallmadge store one day and beginning to criticise everything in
sight, one of CoL Tallmadge's sons caught up a horse-whip and
sailed into him with a will. This was a great success for Osbom,
and the Witness made the most of it. But more was needed.
Eventually the chance came. Julius Deming lost his temper com-
pletely and brought a libel suit against both editors. The result
was inevitable. Judgment was brought against both men and they
were subjected to a fine. In default of payment they were com-
mitted to the County JaiL Ashley was not so ready to play the
martyr as Osborn, and was soon liberated. "I prefer the imprison-
ment of the body to that of the mind", contemptuously replied
Osbom, when the opportunity to regain his freedom was offered
him. The Democrats now took up the cudgels for Osborn, and he
was proclaimed a political martyr. The news of his incarceration
reached other States, and Democrats elsewhere expressed their sym-
pathy and gave their support to the effort to make political capital
out of the incident. It was announced that Osborn's health was
suffering from confinement in a damp and loathsome cell, and this
was printed in the columns of Democratic journals published far
from Litchfield. The Democrats appointed a conunittee to visit
the Jail, to learn the true situation. Just what secrets of the
Jail the Sheriff revealed, or whether there were any to be revealai,
will never be known; but the committee reported that Osbom was
confined in the same room with two criminals, charged with capital
offences; they reported that the walls were ragged stone work, and
the air damp; they asserted that his health was failing. From
this time forward the committee made regular visits to the Jail
and issued weekly Bulletins through the Witness. In vain the
Sheriff, John K. Landon, denied the truth of the reports; the story

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 165

of Osborn's persecution went abroad throughout the land. It was
decided to have a demonstration in his honor on August 6, 180G,
and this was worked up into the Festival already mentioned. It
was a great day for the Democrats in the history of Litchfield.
After early salutes by guns and music, there was a parade of troops
and civilians. In the procession were United States Cavalry,
Militia from Massachusetts, distinguished public officials so far as
they proved available. Osborn had the opportunity to enjoy the
demonstration in his own behalf. The procession marched past
the Jail, which occupied the site of the present School-house, with
bared heads. Opposite his window a salute was fired.

Notwithstanding the hatred with which many of the Congre-
gationalists regarded Democracy, the Society had generously offered
the use of the meeting house for the occasion. Here occurred an
unfortunate incident. The Kev. Judah Champion and his colleague,
Dan Huntington, had taken their places to hear the exercises, when
the chairman of the day, Joseph L. Smith, (son-in-law of Ephraim
Kirby and Kuth Marvin, and himself afterwards the father of the
celebrated Southern General Kirby Smith), rudely came up to the
two ministers and is said to have insulted them and forced them to
leave the building.

After the spread-eagle exercises in the meeting house, the com-
pany adjourned to the green opposite the Jail, where a collation was
served. Here Selleck Osbom had the privilege of looking from his
window and hungrily enjoying the feast spread in his honor, but
out of his reach. Seventeen toasts were drunk during the after-
noon to the accompaniment of martial music and cannon shot. The
first of these was "Selleck Osborn! the Later Daniel in the lions'
den. He is teaching his persecutors that the beasts cannot devour
him!"

With the Festival, the work of the Witness had been achieved.
The Democrats had won the notoriety they desired, not to speak of
the votes. The paper was continued for a few months to reap
the benefits of the advertising. Then it was discontinued, Selleck
Osborn's fine was paid, and he left for other fields of endeavor.

The bitterness remained. As a single example we quote from
Boardman's Sketches of the Litchfield Bar, the laconic answer of
John Allen to an inquiry of him, why he took the Aurora, the
County democratic paper: "He replied it was because he wanted
to know what they were about in the infernal regions".

Litchfield again figured in the political situation in 1814, when
the charter of the Phoenix Bank was being sought in Hartford.
This was opposed by the Hartford Bank, then the only one in the
city, which naturally feared the competition. The cry that the
Phoenix Bank was to be a Democratic and an Episcopal institution
was raised, and it was found that the support of the Litchfield
•epresentatives and business men would help materially in laying
*)prehension, as their conservatism was known. In return, Litch-

i66 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

field asked for and obtained a branch bank, with privileges of
deposit as well as of discount, then unusual privileges for a branch.
The charter was obtained and Col. Benjamin Tallmiadge became
the first President of the Litchfield Branch. In 1865 the First
National Bank was organized as the successor of the branch bank,
with Edwin McNeill as the first President. The Phoenix Bank of
Hartford and the Litchfield Bank now rank sixth in order of length
of continuous operation in the State.

The granting of the charter was called the Toleration Act by
the Episcopalians. If the name of their church had before been
made an argument against the granting of the charter, they argued
that when the charter was granted their party deserved the credit.
Hitherto, every attempt of an Episcopalian to attain office had
been opposed. So much was this the case in the years following
the Revolution that the Rev. James Nichols, the Episcopal clergy-
man, "presented an address to the General Assembly asking for
the appointment of a prominent churchman, Daniel Landon, as Jus-
tice of the Peace, 'mshing', as the petition reads, 'the favor of a
justice of the peace to adorn the Society'," (Rev. Storrs O. Sey-
mour, in Clergy of Litchfield County, 1909, p. 127).

The cry of Toleration really turned Connecticut into a Demo-
cratic Stata It made an appeal to many conservative men, who
had only been disgusted by such demonstrations as that of Selleck
Osborn. When Oliver Wolcott Jr., after his return to Litchfield,
was asked to become the Democratic candidate for Governor in
1817, his surprise was considerable. His family were all Federal-
ists, he himself had been a member of the Cabinet of both the Fed-
eralists Presidents; his house had been the meeting ground for the
Federalists in Philadelphia and in Washington, especially of course
for those from New England, and this at a time when the division
of political parties at the seat of government in their social inter-
course was more decided than it has ever been since.

Oliver Wolcott would never have run on a Democratic plat-
form of the 1806 brand, but Toleration brought in issues with which
he and many others were in hearty sympathy. These he outlined
in his inaugural address to the General Assembly, May 1817. This
address found its way to the London Times, and though at that
particular time, few things American found any favor in England,
yet that conservative paper printed it at length (July 8, 1817). The
editor adds; "When we look at the simplicity and dignity of its
manner, the beauty of its style, the purity of its language, the
elegance of its diction, and the originality of the composition, we
have no hesitance in saying, that we consider it one of the most
splendid State Papers that have ever yet appeared".

Successful as Wolcott's administration was from the beginning,
the election was bitterly contested. This was especially true of
his home town. He wrote of it to his son-in-law, George Gibbs,
April 7, 1817, "Our Election has been held here this day. In this
Village Gov. Smith had 222, and your humble servant 322 votes.

ttn

Governor Oli\'er Wolcott Jr.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 167

I own that I am pleased with obtaining the majority in this Town,
as every possible exertion has been made to oppose me. I know
that seven eighths of the Town are pleased with the result, though
many of them dare not confess it".

Of his administration we cannot properly speak in this book,
but mention should again be made of the State Constitution which
was adopted the following year, 1818, by the General Assembly. He
was the president of the Convention which prepared this admirable
document, and is said to have written the greater part of it him-
self. It provided at length an adequate Constitution for our State,
which was then in the anomalous position of being known to many
as the Constitution State, (from the circumstance of its having
adopted in 1639 the first of the Colonial Constitutions, which became
the model for all later State Constitutions), and yet of having no
proper Constitution of its own, to meet the changed conditions of
a free government.

Of the provisions of the new Constitution, none seemed at the
time more radical to the Federalists than what they considered the
disestablishment of the Congregational Church. "It was as dark
a day as I ever saw", wrote Lyman Beecher, ''The odium thrown
upon the ministry was inconceivable. The injury done to the
cause of Christ, as we then supposed, was irreparable. For several
days I suffered what no tongue can tell for the best thing that ever
happened to the State of Connecticut. It cut the churches loose
from dependence on State support. It threw them wholly on their
own resources and on God".

We may leave this glimpse of the most important political
moment in the history of Litchfield with the wise words of George
C. Woodruff (p. 56) : "A spirit of liberality has in general existed
between different religious sects, and a feeling of good will between
all classes. Party spirit it is true has prevailed among political
partisans, and formerly embittered to some extent social inter-
course. But notwithstanding the calumny which at different times
has been heaped upon different individuals, and upon opposing
parties, its effect has been temporary, and after the heat of contest
has subsided, men have learnt the injustice of which they have been
guilty, and that neither all that is excellent is to be found exclu-
sively with the one party, nor all that is bad exclusively with the
other. And if any there are who disbelieve a truth so obvious,
they receive, in this respect, no countenance from those whose
opinions are worthy of regard".

CHAPTEB XVII.

TREES AND PARKS.

The trees of Litchfield are its crowning beauty to-day. It is
hard to picture the village, especially North Street and South
Street, before the elms had been planted there. The early settlers
were so greatly concerned with the clearing of their fields that they
naturally gave no thought to the planting of new trees for decora-
tive purposes. Indeed the story goes that when Oliver Wolcott Jr.
began to set out trees along the Litchfield streets, one of the
bystanders, an old man who remembered the early days of struggle
against the forest, exclaimed: "We have worked so hard in our
day, and just finished getting the woods cleared off, and now they
are bringing the trees back again!"

From very early days a few persons foresaw the desolation that
would follow if all the trees were cut, not to mention the economic
loss if no future wood supply was provided for. In the Monitor
for January 3, 1798, is reprinted an article which sounds a warning
in this direction, adding: "Would it not be a regulation well deserv-
ing the attention of the General Court, to require every town to
plant the sides of the public roads with forest trees? . . . The plant-
ing quick growing trees, as Willow, Lombardy Poplar, Balm of
Gilead, etc., certainly deserves attention. Even the elms, ash-trees,
button-woods and maples will pay for planting by their growth".

Coming down to the influences which prompted the planting of
our streets, we find two men giving actual inspiration to this work,
besides the individual interest of the men who at different times
did the planting. These men were James Hillhouse of New Haven
and Lyman Beecher.

James Hillhouse had planted great numbers of the elms in
New Haven, which gave the name of the City of Elms to that place.
He interested many of the Yale students in the work he had done,
which was already showing results, and when Oliver Wolcott Jr.
returned from the College, he brought with him the inspiration
that started the movement of tree planting here.

The influence of Lyman Beecher was very much later, after u
great part of the work had already been accomplished. It is worth
recording, hoM^ever. On July 18, 1824, Catharine Beecher wrote to
her brother Edward: "Yesterday I heard two of father's very best
sermons. The afternoon sermon perfectly electrified me, I wish
it could be heard by all young men in the country. Among other
things, he exhibited the ways in which they might do good, and the
blessedness of it. We saw a small specimen of its effect this after-
noon, when, in playful obedience to some exhortations to a laudable

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 169

public spirit, a party of our young townsmen turned out to trans-
plant forest trees wherever they are needed through our streets".
(Autobiography, Vol. II., p. 15).

The story of our trees has been told several times. Miss Mary
Perkins Quincy read a paper on their history before the Mary
Floyd Tallmadge Chapter, D. A. K. in 1901, accompanying a tree-
map of the Borough, which is framed in the rooms of the Litchfield
Historical Society. This was also accompanied by a paper by Prof.
W. E. Britton, entitled Tree Notes. Prof. Henry S. Munroe, in
1919, read a paper before the Litchfield Garden Club, on the Age
^f the Litchfield Trees. The following incidents connected with
the planting of our trees are selected from the mass of informa-
tion furnished by these admirable Essays.

When Oliver Wolcott returned from New Haven under the
influence of James Hillhouse's exhortation to plant trees he set
out thirteen Button-wood or Sycamore trees to commemorate the
thirteen states of the new Republic. Of these only one survives:
''Connecticut", happily enough, which stands in front of the Roman
Catholic Church. The large sycamore on East Street, near the
Library, is believed by some to be another of this planting; but this
is improbable if only because no name has come down for it. Nearly
all, too, were planted along South Street, though the exact sites are
uncertain. Soon after the planting of these Sycamores, an illness
which attacked this kind of tree killed many of those then standing
in various parts of town, and turned the attention of the planters
chieflly to ejms. These grew in many of the outlaying swamps and
could be brought in to town on the shoulders. Oliver Wolcott Jr. and
his brother, Frederick Wolcott, about 1790, planted many of the elms
now so beautiful along both sides of South Street. There is a
legend that they omitted to plant any in front of the house occupied
by Reynold Marvin, the King's Attorney, now owned by Mrs. H. G.
Mendenhall, because of the unpopularity of his Tory views. The
story is doubtful, owing to the friendship of the Wolcott and Marvin
families; we know at least that at the melting of the bullets in
the Wolcott orchard, the ladies of the Marvin household ran the
largest number of bullets to be used in defence of the American
cause. Further, there are now elms in front of this house, but
it may be true that they are of smaller size and of later date.

John C. Calhoun is the next distinguished name among the
planters of the Litchfield elms. He was graduated at the Law
School in 1805. He had the happy thought to set out a few
elms in front of the houses where he boarded, first at the corner
of West and Spencer Streets, and then on Prospect Street, where
Mr. MacMartin now lives. This was then owned by Reuben Web-
ster, and Hosea Webster, the host's little son, used to tell many
years later how he held the trees when Calhoun planted them.
Only one of the Calhoun trees survives on Prospect Street and one
on West Street.

I/O THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

At about the same time, the Misses Pierce, who built their own
house on the site of the present Underwood House on North Street
in 1803, planted several maples on their frontage on the street.
Two of these survive. Their growth has been less rapid than
that of the Calhoun Elms, which now average 113 inches, while the
maples average only 91 inches, in circumference.

In 1812, there was an encampment of soldiers on the Bantam
Road, a little east of the residence of Milo Beach. During their
stay here the men planted a double row of elms by their camp, a
number of which are flourishing.

In 1825, James K. Gould, a son of Judge Gould, and Origen S.
Seymour, then just graduated from Yale, planted elms on the east
side of North Street, from the corner up as far as the present resi-
dence of Charles H. Coit. Two are standing west of Miss Edith

D. Kingsbury's house on the corner, one on the lawn at the entrance
of the Misses Kingsbury's house, and a fourth before the Coit house.

In 1850, Miss Lucretia Deming, the daughter of Julius Deming,
planted the row of Lindens before the Deming house, now the home
of the Misses Kingsbury, from which the house takes it name.
She also planted many of the trees of various varieties in the
grounds. The oak grove was planted from acorns somewhat later.

One of the most devoted lovers of trees in Litchfield was Gideon
H. HoUister. He was the author of the History of Connecticut,
published in 1855, a monumental work, much of which was written
while he lived at the Tallmadge house. Like* Calhoun, he had the
happy faculty of setting out trees wherever he lived; and fortunately
he lived in many different houses, some rented and some owned
by him. Many of the fine trees in the grounds and along the
Street, at the Lindley and Mendenhall houses on South Street and
at the Vanderpoel and Frederick Deming houses on North Street
were planted by him while he was living in these respective places.
He also set out a row of elms on East Street near the Colvoco-
resses house, though it does not appear that he lived there. The
trees in front of the Vanderpoel house were set out by Col. Tall-
madge and William Curtis Noyes.

"Hardly could a more touching legacy", says Miss Quincy,
"have been left to Litchfield than the long row of elms by the road-
side across Harris Plain. In the year 1862, the young men who
lived West of the Center, remarkable for their enterprise and known
as the flower of the town, were among those who went to the Civil '
War. Before they left they planted these memorial trees as their
last gift to their home district. Among these young men were

E. Goodwin Osborn, Lyman J. Smith Jr., Francis Barber, the Vaills,
the Plumbs, the Wadhams, and Captain George W. Mason".

It was the father of one of these men, Lyman Smith Sr., a
prominent merchant, who planted the beautiful elms from which
Elm Ridge received its name.

A number of Memorial Trees have been planted in recent years,
but until time has given fuller size to the trees a}ul hallowed the

The Litchfield County House and Jail, 1812. axd
Whipping-Post Elm

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 171

occasions which they commemorate they can hardly claim individual
mention. Exception should be made for the little evergreen on
the grave of William W. Rockhill, in the East Burying Ground,
which was sent from China in 1915 by Yuan Shi Ki, as a Memorial
to one who did so much to help that unfortunate country at a very
difficult moment.

It is impossible to enumerate here all our historic trees; the
orchards have not yet been mentioned. There have been many in
the town, due at least in part to the popularity of cider in the
olden days. Some of the old trees from the orchard of Lynde Lord
are still alive at the end of Tallmadge Avenue. There is an
old apple tree behind the house of W. G. Rosbach, which is the
only survivor of a large orchard planted by Oliver Wolcott, Sr.
Frederick Wolcott, who inherited this part of his father's property,
was annoyed by the boys stealing fruit from the out-lying parts
of the orchard. One transgressor boldly carried a bag of stolen
apples to the Wolcott house, and offered them for sale. Frederick
Wolcott, recognizing the apples as coming from his orchard, was
so enraged that he ordered most of the trees cut down. (Miss
Esther H. Thompson, Waterburj' American, 1902).

When the buildings were taken out of the Commons, between
1820 and 1827, attention began to be directed to the beautifying of
this part of town. In 1835 the sum of $600 was subscribed for
grading, fencing and setting out trees in the village parks, and the
work was completed in 1836. The Center Park was the thought
of Miss Mary Pierce, the younger sister of Miss Sarah Pierce. This
land was originally the parade ground of the militia, and it was
here that Col. Francis Bacon used to drill his Company. In the
East Park Henry L. Goodwin had a large share in the planting and
care of the trees; while twenty years later, George M. Woodruff,
on his return from Yale College in 1858, planted about 50 more
elms, completing the work. The West Park was planted by the
late David Bulkley, the cabinet maker and antiquarian.

There are three other elms that should be mentioned, though
it is not recorded who planted them, these are the Whipping Post
Elm, the Beecher Elm, and the Sign Post EIul The Whipping
Post Elm, by the County House, is the largest elm in the town, and
according to Professor Munroe is probably older than the Revolu-
tion and possibly close on 200 years old. Gen. Wessells used to tell
of seeing a man tied to the tree ,and given forty lashes save one, as
was the custom, probably about 1815. The second largest elm in
town is the Beecher Elm, which has a circumference of 1461/2 inches
compared with 150 inches for the Whipping Post Elm. This marks
the approximate site at the corner of North and Prospect Streets
of the old Beecher House. The Sign-Post Elm, at the comer of
South and East Streets, is not as large as the other two, or as
several others in the town, but it has the historic interest of having

172 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

advertised on its calm flank the legal notices and of having seen
conducted in its shadow the Sheriff's sales of many years.

The elms of Litchfield have filled with unconscious happiness
not only those so fortunate as to live near them, but the many
visitors to Litchfield, who carry away the memory of their splendor.
They are trees to come back to, and are the first subject spoken of
by Henry Ward Beecher, in his Litchfield Kevisited, 1856: "The
morning after our arrival in Litchfield we sallied forth alone. The
day was high and wide, full of stillness and serenely radiant. As
we carried our present life up the North Street, we met at every
step our boyhood life coming down. There were the old trees, but
looking not so large as to our young eyes. The stately road had,
however, been bereaved of the buttonball trees, which had been
crippled by disease. But the old elms retained a habit peculiar to
Litchfield. There seemed to be a current of wind which at times
passes high up in the air over the town, and which moves the tops
of the trees, while on the ground there is no movement of wind.
How vividly did that sound from above bring back early days,
when for hours we lay upon the windless grass and watched the
top leaves flutter and marked how still were the under leaves of
the same tree!"

The healthy condition of our elms to-day, when in some towns
they have suffered so much from droughts and other causes, is
attributed to the subsoil of hardpan, deposited by the glacier on so
many of our hilltops, causing those occasional swamps which still
surprise us as existing in apparent defiance of the law of gravita-
tion. The elm is a swamp tree, growing most luxuriantly on the
banks of our streams, and its roots find a congenial environment in
the subsoil swamp of Litchfield Hill, below the level to which the
drainage has as yet been carried.

DOMESTIC AND WILD ANIMALS.

In Colonial times, animals, both domestic and wild, were a
matter of much more general concern than they now are. To-day
one's own domestic animals are a source of pleasure or profit to one's
self only, and if we go fishing or hunting it is again for our own
pleasure. We no longer are concerned in town meetings with the
restraint of our neighbor's geese or boars, nor do we offer bounties
for wolves and rattlesnakes. Yet time was when these were very
serious matters. It may be an exaggeration, but not a very great
one, to say that not a tOAvn meeting was held prior to the Revo-
lution and for twenty years afterwards but one or more votes came
up about animals. The great source of discussion was the use
of the Commons. Our streets, which delight us by their breadth,
were then even wider than they are to-day; but this width was noi
entirely a matter of foresight, as is sometimes supposed, when our
first settlers are given credit for having visualized our broad road-
ways, lined with beautiful rows of trees. Trees were not thought

THR HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 173

of before the Kevolution, as has been seen, beyond being considere<l
a nuisance in the fields, to be cleared as rapidly as possible. The
wide streets were primarily planned as a grazing place for the
live stock, especially at night, when they could be brought in from
the outlying pastures, and herded safely out of reach of the prowling
red man.

The picket fences, now an object of occasional ornament, and
the chestnut rail fences, now entirely disappeared from our streets,
were then an essential part of any home, which the fence-viewer
required to be kept up to the proper standard of strength. After
the erection of one's omti log cabin and of the meeting house, not
even the garrisons against the Indians took precedence over the
fences in point of urgency of construction.

At the town meeting on December 17, 1722, it was Voted, "That
the swine shall run at large upon the comone and every man whose
swine shall do damage to any neighbors shall pay the damage
whether there be fence or no till the first of May next and after
that time the owner of swine shall have liberty to have said fence
proved by the fence viewers and if not lawfull fence not to pay
damage".

The hayward had full charge of the commons and of the pound,
and the fence vievr ers were the court of appeal when the animals at
large did any damage. Neither was an official greatly to be
envied.

Votes were passed regulating in turn every kind of animal and
fowl, the sentiment one year being for the greatest possible liberty
and another for the greatest possible restraint. Many of these
rotes appear laughable to us. Some of them follow:

Town Meeting, April 7, 1783: Voted that no Hogs be suffered
to go at large on the Highways or elsewhere in this Town after the
twentieth instant without being well ringed in the nose or snout on
penalty of Forfeiture of two shillings lawful money and Poundage
for each Hog so found at large without being ringed as aforesaid
and in order to prevent Mischief by such Hogs voted that Capt. Solo-
man Marsh, Capt. Lynde Lord, Ens. Ozias Goodwin, Ozias Lewis,
and John Horsford be a Committee to carry this vote into effectual
execution. *

Town Meeting, May 12, 1783: Voted to restrain Horses from
running at large on the Highways and Commons.

Town Meeting, December 8, 1791: Voted to restrain Boars from
running at large after they are three months old under forfeiture
of three shillings lawful money. Voted to restrain the Kams in
this Town from the 10th of September to the 1st of November for
the year ensuing.

Town Meeting, December 15, 1801: Voted to repeal the Vote
making Hogs free Commoners under certain restrictions passed
April 1796.

Town Meeting, November 26, 1805: Voted that all Geese taken
Damage Feasant after this date shall be liable to be impounded

174 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

and the Proprietor shall pay to the Person impounding said Geese
six cents per head damages.

Town Meeting, November 11, 1806: Voted that to a former law
or vote passed in this Town in November last respecting Geese the
same penalty and restriction be added to restrain Turkies and that
they be proceeded with accordingly.

With so many animals at large together in our streets the
question of individual ownership was a very pressing one. Owner-
ship was determined primarily by branding, and in the original
title to the town given by the General Assembly in May 1719, a
special brand, the figure 9, was assigned to Litchfield. But in
addition each individual had his or her separate brand. Charles
Shepherd Phelps, in his charming Rural Life in Litchfield County,
published by the Litchfield County University Club, 1917, gives a
number of these brands, thus: "A cross on the off ear taken out".
"As the marks on record increased", (p. 21), "the style of the mark-
ing became more complicated, as, a cross cut on the off ear and a
slit in the cross of the near ear and a slit in the under side of the
near ear.

"The taking of stray animals, and their impounding and sale
when not claimed by the owner, was also common, as shown by
the following, copied from the Litchfield town records: Two red
yearlen heffers marked with a cross in the off ear and one black
yearlen hefter with some white upon the rump, white under bolly
and sum white upon the inside of the hind leggs — also marked with
a cross in the off ear — which heffers are in the custody of Thomas
Lee and have been prized by his desire on the 27th day of November
last by us, by the sum of three pounds and fifteen shillings, by us
John Baldwin, Joseph Bixy. The above named heffers are put
upon record this fifth day of December Anno Domini 1723".

A good many advertisements of strayed cattle are given in the
early Monitors, sometimes with curious identification marks, of
Avhich the following is a sample, (Monitor, November 14, 1796) :
"Strayed from the subscriber some time in July last, a yearling
Steer, marked with a swallow tail in the off ear, two half pennies the
under side of the near ear, and a slit in the end of the same; of a
red colour, white face, red hair round his eyes. Whoever will
take up said steer and give information thereof, shall be well
rewarded by David Beach". The etymology of the word ear-marks
is sufficiently apparent here.

Litchfield has always been a good dairying country, and the
amount of live stock has probably been large from the earliest
days. The only mention of the purchase of any stock in the town
records, is the appropriation on January 1, 1722, of 30 shillings
advanced by the Town towards obtaining three bulls for the Town
use. Morris, p. 90, says that there were shorn in this town in May
and June 1811, 6,784 sheep.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 175

The end of the Common and the beginning of Litchfield's Park
system dates from about 1820. The buildings were taken out of
the Green about the same time, the last one to go being the second
Congregational church, which was taken down in 1827, the year after
the departure of Lyman Beecher. Although the alder swamps
had probably been drained considerably before this date, the center
of the streets were still unsightly, full of loose stone and brush,
together with the little mounds with whortleberry bushes which
Oliver Wolcott Jr. said the truants from school hid behind. About
1820, the citizens got permission to enclose the center of Meeting
House Street, in connection with some of the tree planting which
was then becoming popular, and the day of the public pasture gradu-
ally came to a close. At first many ludicrous and stormy scenes
and wordy battles occurred when the haywards attempted to confine
the trespassing cattle, but changes come quickly and by the time
the Parks were more formally laid out, say 1835, the old Commons
Avas already almost forgotten.

Turning to the wild animals, we read in Morris, p. 88, "Many
years after the settlement of this town, deer, bears, and wild tur-
keys, were numerous. Deer and bears have been taken by hunters
between the years 1760 and 1770, and turkeys at a later period.
Wild-cats occasionally visit us, and destroy sheep and lambs. A
small tract near the north-east part of this town is rough and ledgy,
and affords them a refuge from hunters and their dogs. Con-
siderable mischief was done by them in the winters of 1811 and 1812".

"There are persons yet living", (Kilbourne, p. 62), "who remem-
Ix'r when bears and wolves were hunted in Blue Swamp, and deer
and wild turkeys were frequently seen within two miles of the
Court House; when Indians, in companies of tAventy or thirty, were
accustomed to make their annual visits to this town, encamping on
Pine Island, or along the Lake-shore, the men employing themselves
in hunting and fishing, while the squaws made and peddled baskets
and brooms. Foxes, minks, musk-rats, rabbits, woodchucks and
raccoons ai*e noAv frequenty trapped within the limits of this town-
ship".

Bounties were offered in the earliest days of the settlement for
killing wolves and rattlesnakes. Thus, at a Town Meeting, May
16, 1740, we find "Voted, that Avhosoever shall kill and distroy any
rattlesnakes within the bounds of the Town any time before the
10th day of December next, bringing the tayl and soni of the flesh to
any one of the Select men of the Town shall have three pence for
each snake". We do not, however, find any appropriations made
of town funds for the payment of these bounties, and the catch
was probably small. To-day, it is said that no Rattlers exist
between the Naugatuck and Housatonic Rivers, though they are
said to be found on the further side of both those rivers on rare occa-
sions. However, one fine haul of snakes is reported in the
Monitor, December 3, 1787, "A few days since, in this town, upwards

176 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

of Three Hundred and Forty Snakes of every species excepting the
rattle, were found sheltered under a meadow bog; where, it is
supposed, they had taken up winter quarters".

The only mention of wolves in the Monitor occurs in 1806, when
four are reported to have been killed in Norfolk, very probably
these were the last in the County. The residence of Bertram Lewis »
at the foot of Brush Hill, is known as Wolf Pit Farm, the Wolf
Pit having at one time been made there by Captain Joseph Vaill,
who built this, the oldest house in the township (now much
remodeled), in 1744. Miss Alice Bulkeley, Historic Litchfield, 1907,^
p. 12, describes the construction as "simple, but effective; an exca-
vation in the ground was surmounted by heavy logs so arranged that
they would fall upon and crush a wolf when it tugged at the bait
fastened at a figure 4 trap underneath".

Regarding bears, the tradition is that the last one was killed
long ago after being treed into the big oak back of the residence of
John P. Elton on North Street, which itself is supposed to be the
last survivor of the primeval forest remaining within the borough
limits. Amos Benton, the father of Horatio Benton, used to tell
that in 1774, when he was three years old, a bear passed but a few
rods from him while he was playing near the brook by his home.
The alarm was given and his father and some of the neighbors
started in pursuit, but did not succeed in killing it.

The only animal which, after being locally exterminated, has
returned to us is the deer. "Captain Salmon Buel, now in his
ninety second year", wrote Kilbourne in 1859, "has seen wild deer
in the swamp between his residence and the village". For about
a hundred years no deer were seen; they were protected for ten
years previous to 1917, throughout the state, and returned in con-
siderable nimibers, presumably from the Adirondacks, wintering suc-
cessfully in our swamps.

"The fish in our waters are various", Morris, p. 88, "In the
Great, Little and Cranberry Ponds, and their tributary streams,
no trout have ever been taken. The fish in these waters are eels,
perch, roach, suckers, shiners, red-fins, and bull-heads or cat-fish.
In the winter of 1809, twenty eight pickerel were taken in a pond
in Southwick, near Granby, transported in casks of water by sleighs,
and put into the Cranberry Pond. Their progeny now begin to be
taken in considerable nimibers. What effect they will have in
destroying the former occupants, remains to be provetl. Probably
the shiners, red-fins, and smaller perch will many of them be
destroyed; yet it is thought that the pickerel will be a valuable
acquisition".

A previous experiment with pickerel was authorized in April
1779, when Capt. John Marsh was granted by the Town the exclu-
sive Pickerel Fishing rights in the Loon or Cranberry Pond, "pro-
vided he shall at his own expense procure pickerel to breed and
propagate therein in a reasonable time". It seems however that

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 177

no advantage was taken of this privilege. How successful the
pickerel have been since 1809 needs no comment. They were for a
long time the great fish of Bantam Lake, being knowni as Bantam
Shad. More recently black bass were put into the Lake, and are
now the chief aim of the fishermen. Other fish have been put into
our waters on several occasions, the latest experiment being the
salmon trout in 1919 bv the Connecticut Fish Commission.

CHAPTER XVIII.

SOUTH FARMS, MILTON, NORTHFIELD AND BANTAM.

Until 1859, the present township of Morris formed an integral
part of Litchfield, and was an important factor in our jwpulation
and acreage. In 1810, its population was 1,238, probably the largest
figure it attained. When the towns were divided, the population
is estimated at 675.

The early history of this parish has been well told by Wood-
ruff, pp. 53-55: "In May 1740, the Inhabitants of South Farms peti-
tioned the L^slature, to be annexed to the north Society of Wood-
bury, now Bethlehem. A committee of the Town of Litchfield was
appointed to oppose it, and the application was unsuccessful. Ser-
eral attempts were made to procure their incorporation as an Ecclesi-
astical Society, which did not succeed till 1767, when an act of the
Legislature for that purpose was passed. In 1753, there were
but 30 families in the parish; when it was incorporated it con-
tained 70.

"But the L^slature long before that time granted the Inhabi-
tants power to maintain the public worship of God among them for
three months during the winter, and this right was called the
'Winter Privilege'. They thereupon exercised the ordinary powers
of an Ecclesiastical Society. Their first meeting for such purposes
was holden on the 23d Nov. 1748, at the house of Capt. Thomas Har-
rison . . . and Public Worship was held in different sections, at the
School and Private Houses. The first School House was voted to
be built in 1747. Twenty pounds was given from the Town Treasury
for that purpose".

There are two Cemeteries in the limits of the South Farms
parish. The older, for which liberty was granted in 1747, is now
known as the Morris Cemetery, and lies on a hill, with slope to the
southwards. Some of the graves near the road are marked by
very old stones, many well-nigh illegible. The first person buried
in this grave-yard was James Stoddard, who was kUled at the
raising of a dwelling in March 1749. In connection with the
funerals at this Burying Ground, a vote of the Society, passed March
14, 1759, survives, which is one of the most singular examples of
old orthography in any of our records. This was, "to pay Charles
Woodruff six shillings for ye Bears to carry ye Dead".

The second Cemetery was authorized in 1776, in Footville or
West Morris. "The sanctity of burial places". Woodruff, p. 54,
"seems not to have been very highly regarded"; for the deed from
Thomas Waugh of the land to be used specifies that "said Thomas

^iitf'^fi^'h

MCkki- W'lii'iiRi'Fr

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 179

Waugh his heirs and assigns shall have good right forever to enclose
said Burying Yard, and use it for pasturing, provided, he or they
shall keep up and maintain convenient bars for the people to pass
and repass, for the purpose of burying their dead".

"In the year 1764", Morris, p. 104, "the inhabitants agreed to
build their first church. It was only one story high, 34 feet by
32". The original vote of the Society authorizing this church gives
slightly smaller proportions, as follows: "25 by 35 ft. with 9 ft
posts provided Justice Gibbs will do it by Dec. 1st, for seventy
pounds ten shillings, plank body, clapboards on the outside, 10 win-
dows of 24 panes 6 by 8 inches, floor well lined, sealed with pine,
one doar, point the cracks between the planks with clay, decent
pulpit, one-half to be paid in proc. bills (?), and one-half in specie".
Later voted "A Quchion" and later "two pairs of stairs and foarms
were built in the gallery".

"The greatest puzzle", Morris Herald, September, 1899, "was
the gallery in a church with posts only 9 feet high. Probably the
space under the roof was include<l in the room and the gallery was
at the end, with the gallery floor dropped a little below the plates".

A second church, more suitable in size to the needs of the grow-
ing community and to use all the year, instead of for the winter
privileges only, was planned as early as 1774, but the War pre-
vented its construction until 1785. It was a more pretentious
structure than most churches of that day. The main entrance was
a high double door over which was a large carved pine apple and
other carved work. (Morris Herald, January, 1900). "Over the
pulpit was the inevitable sounding board, described as a Turkish
minaret, surmounted by a scarlet tulip. On each panel of the base
of the sounding board was a carved bunch of grapes, and on the
front of the pulpit, which was over six feet in height, were five
rows, three bunches each, of carved bunches of grapes, a bright
purple in color and two grape leaves to each bunch, of natural size.
On wood work behind the pulpit were two narrow green stripes,
surmounted by scarlet tulips. There was but one stairway for
the pulpit, on the left side, while down in front of the pulpit was
the deacons' seat. The seats were arranged on three sides of the
square pews, so that one third of the people would sit back to
the minister. In the early days the people were seated according
to social position, which was determined by wealth chiefly. This
custom provoked jealousies and, in 1827, it was voted that the
congregation should be 'seated by age without regard to list' . . .
In a great gale of wind in 1822, the steeple was blown down and
the bell broken. In 1824, a stove was for the first time set up
in the church. . . . The church stood in an exposed spot and in spite
of the stoves in severe weather it was impossible to heat the church,
and it was taken down in 1844 and the present Church took its
place. When it was torn down, Dibble Smith, an intense Uni-
versalist, obtained the old pulpit and took a part of it to the match

i8o THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

shop located where the Waterbury Reservoir now is and had it
made into matches. He said they ought to burn well, for the
pulpit must be well seasoned bv the brimstone theology preached
in it".

The Rev. David Lewis Parmelee was the pastor in South
Farms from 1841 until after the parish had become a separate town-
ship, and he was largely instrumental in having the third church
built. He was greatly interested in the parish, and was the largest
subscriber to the church, and gave the sum of $1,000. for the con-
struction of an adjoining chapel. He was very strict in the observ-
ance of the Sabbath, and used to feed his horse on Saturdays to
last over the day. South Farms has been fortunate in having
such leaders as he was, and still more in James Morris of the
Morris Academy.

Under the direction of the latter, the first Library in the town
of Litchfield was founded in South Farms in 1785. "In the year
1791, a constitution was formed; and the proprietors became more
numerous. The library consists of between 300 and 400 volumes
of well-chosen books, of ancient and modern history and divinity"
(Morris, p. 106).

A debating society, formed in 1842, should also be mentioned.
This was the Ladies' and Gentlemen's Society of South Farms for
Moral and Intellectual Improvement. It had a large membership,
and had an active but short existence of six years. Among the
subjects debated, we find the following: "Has the introduction of
manufacturing establishments into our country as a whole been
injurious to public morals?" This was decided in the affirmative.
"Is matrimony more conducive to happiness than celibacy?" This
also was answered in the affirmative. The last subject recorded is:
"Is the credit system beneficial to the community?" This seems
to have been too much for the society, which never met again.

THE MORRIS ACADEMY.

In addition to the Law School and Miss Pierce's Academy,
there was within the then limits of the town a third educational
institution, more modest in its scope, yet which achieved important
results. This was the Academy of James Morris in South Farms.
He was born January 19, 1752. He himself has told us of its
scope in the Statistical Account, written in 1812-4, (p. 105) : "An
Academy was begun in South-Farms, in the year 1790; in which
are taught the Latin and Greek languages, English grammar,
arithmetic, mathematics, rhetoric, logic, and moral philosophy. Sev-
eral gentlemen Avithin the parish and in the town of Litchfield built
the house by subscription, at the expense of $1,400. More than 1,400
scholars, of both sexes, have been members of this school. More
than 60 of these have entered Yale and other colleges. The school
still continues. It was originally instituted for the purpose of

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD i8i

improving the manners and morals of youths, and of attracting
their attention from frivolity and dissipation".

The achievement of the results here so modestly described was
not an easy one. To build up in the conditions then prevailing,
as we shall see, in South Farms, an educational center capable of
influencing the entire community and of sending out graduates with
the ideals of John Pierpont, John Brown of Osawatomie, Samuel J.
Mills, Jr., and at least two of the sons of Lyman Beecher, was a
work requiring a remarkable personality in its founder, and there
is no question that Mr. Morris was a remarkable and splendid
man.

We are fortunate in that he left a narrative in manuscript,
extracts from which have been printed in Morris Herald (March
1900), in the Memoirs of the Long Island Historical Society, (Vol.
II L, 1878, part 2, pp. 172-4), and in Johnston's Yale in the Kevolu-
tion, (pp. 74-77 and 138).

The extracts which have been printed are chiefly concerned with
his services in the Revolution. He served from 1776 to the end of
the war, with rank of Captain. He Avas a prisoner for over three
years after the battle of Germantown, the experiences which he
narrates being of much interest. We must, however, confine our-
selves to a few quotations telling of his early life in South Farms
and the starting of his life work. He began his Memoirs with
these words: "In looking back to my early childhood I can well
recollect that I was very much attached to my book ... In my
youthful days I had an ardent desire to have a public education
and my ultimate desire was to be a minister, but being the only
son of my father he could not brook the idea of my leaving him
for that purpose. He meant that I should be his earthly prop".

When he was eighteen his father acceded to his wishes for an
education in so far as to say "that if I would go and sled home a
certain quantity of wood that he had drawn off a piece of fallow
ground the preceding summer I might go and try what I could
do in the study of Latin. I then exerted myself, and in about a
fortnight I had sledded home sixty loads of wood and loaded and
unloaded the same". He then went and spent the winter with
the minister in an adjoining town, tutoring especially in Latin. In
the spring of 1770 he was called home to study under the minister
in South Farms: "But", he says, "I made little progress, for every
day I was interrupted; it was constantly said, James, you must
go and bring some wood, you must get some oven wood and split
it fine, you must go and bring up the old mare, your mother wants
to ride out, you must go and fetch the cows, the pigs are in the
garden, you must go and get them out". In spite of every difficulty
he persevered, entered Yale, graduated in 1775, and began the study
of theology. He did not consider himself fitted to be a minister,
however, and after his return he and his wife, Elizabeth Hubbard
of Middletown, made their home with Mr. and Mrs. Morris, Senior,
both of whom were now in failing health. It was a restricted life

i82 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

for the young couple. "My parents being advanced in the waning
of life diose retirement, my mother especially could not be broken
of her rest or be disturbed of her sleep. We often had evening
visitors and they would often stay till after nine o'clock, and some
noise would be made either in conversation or when they bid me
good night and went out of the house. The next morning my
mother would complain that she was so disturbed that she did
not sleep, and that she could not have it so, that I should send off
my company before nine o'clock. Finding my situation growing
unpleasant, yet at the same time feeling disposed to do everything
in my power to soothe the pillow of age and to render the con-
dition of my beloved parents comfortable, I consulted my father on
the subject and I informed him that I had it in contemplation to
purchase the house and lands where I now live". It was not long
before Morris found that he needed more land, but he had not the
money to buy it. "But", he says naively, "a kind providence had
hitherto always found a way of escape for me when I was either
in difficulty or in danger. In June 1789, God was pleased to
remove my dear father by death. A considerable sum of money
and cattle were placed in my possession by which I was enabled to
free myself from debt without any embarrassment. Thus I was
prospered in my worldly concerns, though the removal of my father
was a grievous stroke to me in the dispensation of providence".

He was much distressed at the condition of the people about
him, "The church in this place was made up of numbers of
ignorant, unprincipled and unexemplary men. They voted in
church meeting that conversion should be no terms of communion
at the Lord's Table, and this society ratified the same vote. Pro-
fane swearing and open Sabbath breaking and drunkenness were
not uncommon among professors of religion. The young people
were clownish, ignorant and uncivil in their recreation and amuse-
ments. They consisted chiefly of noisy and jovial mirth.

"The first effort that I made", continues Mr. Morris, "was to
attract the attention of the children in the several schools". As
an incentive he offered a prize to each of the eight from the several
districts who should perform best in a public examination. Taking
a continued interest in the school children, he began courses for
them after school hours in English grammar and geography. "The
young ladies were my first pupils; I took more pains with them in
the outsetting in giving counsel than I did to the others because
experience had taught me in my travels through the United States
that in every town or village where there was a chaste or virtuous
set of young ladies there was a decent class of young men".

He met with much opposition at first; people envied him for his
position and hated him for his reforms. The opposition increased
until in 1794 the Church took up the matter. A council was called
and some of the neighboring churches sent delegates. The charge
against him was that of disturbing the public peace. One of the
witnesses testified that he occasionally walked home at night with

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 183

his young lady pupils. Nevertheless the council acquitted him.
After this his school prospered and steadily increased. In 1803 the
people of the Society and other friends in Litchfield built him the
house which was called the Academy. When the district of South
Farms was set off as a separate township in 1859, the residents paid
James Morris a deserved tribute in giving his name to the town,
and thus honoring the memory of his sturdy character and of all
he did for the community and for the world in Morris Academy.
The value of his work appears when we contrast the early conditions
in the community with the somewhat remarkable intelligence and
character of the citizens in the years when the influence of the
Academy came to be fully realized. It appears also in the large
number of men from other parts of the country who were educated
here and have filled important positions in the world. A few of
his pupils especially have exerted a wide influence.

John Pierpont was born in South Farms on April 6, 1785.
After studying at the Morris Academy, he went to Yale (Class of
1804). He studied law at the Litchfield Law School. He became
one of the most distinguished pastors of the Unitarian Church,
occupying the pulpit of the HoUis Street Church in Boston from
1819 to 1845. He was also widely known as a poet in those days,
and composed the Poem for the Litchfield County Centennial in
1851, which he recited with much effect. He was a vigorous anti-
slavery advocate, and carried on the temperance crusade begun by
Lyman Beecher. The freedom with which he expressed his opinions
regarding the temperance cause led to a bitter controversy. While
not strictly pertinent to the history of Litchfield, the following may
be quoted as showing something of the spirit of the times:

"The cellar of his church was used by some of his parishioners
who were engaged in the wholesale liquor business, to store their
goods. Report says it was John Pierpont who wrote the following
lines :

There's a spirit above,

And a spirit below;
A spirit of love.

And a spirit of woe.
The spirit above is the Spirit Divine,

But the spirit below is the spirit of wine".

(Morris Herald, April 1899).

John Brown w^as bom in Torrington on May 9, 1800. He came
to the Academy with his brother Salmon about 1816 or a little later,
and remained only one year. "He was not very popular with the
other pupils; this may have been due to certain unamiable traits
of character for which he admits his brothers criticised him, or
simply to his conscientiousness of behavior. His disposition to
attempt to right wrongs in a summary way appeared even at that
early day. His younger brother Salmon was guilty of some offense
for which he thought he ought to be punished, 'If Salmon had done

i84 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

this at home', he said to the teacher, 'father would have punished
him. I know he would expect you to punish him now for doing
this, and if you dont I shall'. That night, more in sorrow than in
anger, he gave him a severe flogging". (Morris Herald, Jan. 1899).

Salmon Brown was for a time in the employ of Morris Wood-
ruff. His grandson, George M. Woodruff, tells that on one occa-
sion, Morris Woodruff, upon his return from the legislature, was
much annoyed to find that some of his directions concerning farm
work had not been carried out. Upon which Salmon consoled him
by saying: '"Gin'ral, Gin'ral, don't you know that if a man wants
anything did, he must did it hiself?" We are not sure whether
this anecdote speaks very well for the teaching of grammar at the
Morris Academy!

Through his life Morris shoAved a deep interest in his fellow
men, not only in the scholars directly in his charge. This character-
istic led him to be greatly interested in missions; the mission school
of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions being
first connected with Morris Academy. The Litchfield County Foreign
Mission Society was the first organized auxiliary of the Board, and
dates from 1811. James Morris was largely instrumental in its
undertaking, and was its Secretary from its inception until his
death. About 1816 he founded a mission school at South Farms,
which in May 1817 was transferred to Cornwall, where it became an
object of great interest as an experiment before untried. The school
was founded as a result of the finding in 1809 of a young Sandwich
Island boy, Henry Obookiah, on a doorstep at Yale College. He
was cared for by Rev. Edwin Welles Dwight, then a resident gradu-
ate at Yale. Samuel J. Mills Jr., who had been a pupil of James
Morris at the Academy, became the companion of Mr. Dwight in
New Haven, and so was deeply interested in the heathen boy and
conceived the idea of educating him as a missionary to his native
land. Gradually the idea grew of a school for native foreign mis-
sionaries; and when at last the school was opened at South Farms,
Mr. Dwight became the first principal. On April 1, 1817, he wrote
to his mother from the school: "I came at the request of the agents
of the Heathen school to take charge of the Owhyhee boys. It is
established by the board of commission of foreign missions and
not long hence to have a very important connection with all our
plans and efforts to spread the gospel. Tlie object is to furnisli
a place for collecting and instructing all the heathen youth that
may be thrown upon our countrj' or sent to this country for educa-
tion. Of the Owhyheeans, three or four are pious. It is very
evidently God's design to prepare some of these young men to return
as missionaries and interpreters to their own country'". Samuel J.
Mills Jr. did not live to see the success of the school. In 1818.
on the return journey from Africa, whither he had gone to explore
the West Coast with a view to founding a colonization project, he
died at the early age of thirty five. In his short life, through his
many and varied pioneer services for the cause of foreign missions.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 185

he won the reputation of being the Father of American Missions.
He is buried in Torringford, where he was born.

After removing to Cornwall the school grew very rapidly. The
catalog of 1820 showed that the scholars were chiefly natives of the
Sandwich Islands, one from Tahiti, one from the Marquesas, one
Malay. There were also several American Indians. The school
was discontinued in 1827, as it was found better to train native
missionaries in their own lands. The detailed history of the school
does not belong in this book. The life of Obookiah was written by
Mr. Dwight in 1818, the work passing through 12 editions, the last
in 1867. K. Henry W. Dwight, the biographer of his grand-father,
has estimated that these several editions, in three languages, num-
bered not less than 50,000 copies, an enormous amount for those
days. But the little seed of foreign missions, sowed in South
Farms, cannot be counted in numbers, and though the story is
virtually forgotten to-day its influence has been enormous.

In connection with this mission work, we notice that under the
inspiration of James Morris and Morris Woodruff in South Farms,
and of Julius Deming, Benjamin Tallmadge, Tapping Keeve and
others in Litchfield, the support of Litchfield to the general Board
was on a very liberal scale. "In the first years of the American
Board for Foreign Missions its prospects were dark, and its supplies
dubious. T\Tien the annual collection from Litchfield County first
came into the Treasury of the Board, relieving it from some existing
embarrassment, Dr. Worcester exclaimed 'I bless God for making
Litchfield County'." (Semi-Centennial of the Litchfield County
Foreign Mission Society, 1861, p. 25). The contribution from Litch-
field in the spring of 1813, the first remittance, was $1,354.11, truly
a large one for the time^ as the entire receipts of the Board for
that year from the whole country were only $11,361.18.

James Morris was taken ill while visiting the Mission School
in Cornwall, and died on his way home, at Goshen, April 20, 1820.
The work at his Academy was continued after his death by a Mr.
Chapman, and in 1831 Samuel Morris Ensign, 1804-1888, became
principal. He was a distinguished educator, and drew large num-
bers of pupils from the then western states, such as Ohio. The
building of the Academy was torn down in 1892. For the last few
years it had been used as a barn, the school being conducted in the
home of Mr. Ensign. Some years before the latter's death the
Academy practically ceased to exist.

NORTHFIELD.

The south-eastern part of our township, now known as North-
field, was first settled about 1760, but not incorporated as a parish
until 1794. The parish, as laid out, included a part of Thomaston,
then known as Northbury, or the north section of Plymouth. The
name Northfield is a compound of the first syllable of Northbury and
the last svUable of Litchfield.

j86 the history OF LITCHFIELD

Tradition says that the first settlers were John Humaston and
Titus Turner, both of whom came from New Haven. Humaston
built a sawmill on the stream just east of the cemetery, where a
mill still stands, though not the same one. Here he sawed the
lumber for the first frame house, which stood on the site of the
present Post Office until it was burned in 1904, with the former
Post Office just to the east. Turner's log house stood about a
quarter mile west, on the south side of the present main street, but
facing south on the earlier road.

James Marsh was the first child born in the settlement, Septem-
ber 22, 1762.

Prior to 1794, the settlement was called South-East Farms. The
first recorded meeting of a Society was October 15, 1789, at which it
was voted to hire a minister for the winter season of six months.

In 1791, application was made for liberty to have a burying
ground. The first location was not satisfactory and was not used.
On May 6, 1795, John Humaston made a gift to the Society of half
an acre, on the present site, and this tract has been twice subse-
quently added to. He reserved to "Himself, his heirs and assigns
forever the right of feeding said Ground".

Northfield is the only section of our township in which the
Episcopal church was built before the Congr^ationaL The First
Episcopal Society of Litchfield Southeast Farms was organized at
the house of John Humaston on September 5, 1793. Thirty six
persons were enrolled as members at this meeting. The first church,
45 by 34 feet, was built on the Green, where the Soldier's Monument
now stands, facing south, with a door at the west end also, and
was completed in 1795. Rev. Joseph E. Camp officiated for a short
time, addressing the Episcopalians in the morning and the Congre-
gationalists in the afternoon. This building was consecrated as
Trinity Church on October 19, 1836, by Thomas Church Brownell,
Bishop of Connecticut. The present church was begun in 1865 and
consecrated as Trinity Church on February 10, 1866, by John
Williams, Bishop of Connecticut.

By gift of Mrs. Bennett Hiimiston in 1899 the Society acquired
the house adjoining the church on the south, which has since been
used as a rectory. Here the Kev. Adelbert P. Chapman, the rector
from 1901 to 1917, conducted for several years a small Summer
Home for Girls for the preventative treatment of Tuberculosis, an
admirable charity, carried on with great devotion.

The Ecclesiastical Society of Northfield was incorporated at the
session of the General Assembly, October 1794, the name being
changed to the Congregational Society of Northfield in 1859. The
Society was organized at the house of William Washburn at a
meeting on January 1, 1795, with 14 enrolled members. Later in
the year it was voted to adopt 'Deacon Button's plan' for a meeting
house, 50 by 38 feet. The building was commenced in 1796, but not
completed for use until 1803. It stood on the top of Northfield

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 187

Hill, a quarter of a mile north of the present Green. The present
church was dedicated February 6, 1867.

The Society is endowed through a trust fund of $10,000., received
from the estate of Asa Hopkins, who died in 1838. He lived on the
East Hill, where he b^an at a very early date the manufacture of
wooden clocks; later he began the manufacture of flutes at Flute-
ville; and finally removed to New Haven, where he again manu-
factured clocks.

By the bequest of William L. Gilbert of Winsted, a native of
Northfield, who died in 1890, the Society received the sum of $4,000.
for a parsonage, to include a room for a free Library, for which
the further sum of $8,000. was given. This building is located
opposite the church, and was completed in 1896. The Librarian,
from 1893 to 1907, was Levi S. Wooster, to whose faithful work in
building up the Library, Northfleld is very largely indebted for the
fine collection of 5,500 books now included. Rev. Wallace Humiston
is the present Librarian.

The first school, Litchfield District No, 14, was established in
1774. The school stood east of the road about half way from the
present Congregational church to the top of the hill above. All
traces of it disappeared long ago. In 1797, the Ecclesiastical
Society appointed a committee which laid out the following districts :
Center, Hopkins, Marsh, Fluteville, Mill and Guernsey Hill. Of
these, Hopkins has long been abandoned, and Guernsey Hill more
recently ; while Mill is now in the town of Morris. A new building
was furnished by Daniel Catlin about 1840 for use of the Center
district, w^hich the town later acquired and which is still standing,
opposite the present Center School, built in 1885.

There have been at least two important private schools. Rev.
Joseph E. Camp, during his long ministry with the Ecclesiastical
Society, 1795-1837, fitted many boys for collie. One of these was
John Pierpont, who also studied at the Morris Academy.

Deacon John Catlin opened a private school in the old tavern
of Jacob Turner about 1845. Among his pupils were Senator O. H.
Piatt, Judge Edward W. Seymour, Rev. Storrs O. Seymour, D. D., and
James G. Batterson of Hartford, buUder of the State Capitol.

There has been a Post-Off'ice in Northfield since about 1836,
when Daniel Catlin was postmaster. Prior to this time a weekly
mail was delivered to the settlers by the rider to Hartford from
Litchfield, beginning January 24, 1791.

About 1794 the mail was left at the store of Turner and Wood-
ruff, and the trips were made twice weekly. Shortly after 1800,
the mail was left at the tavern of Jacob Turner, which was a way
station for the overland mail from Hartford to Albany. This house
still stands, being the second house north of the Congregational
Church.

Of the many industries which have been located in Northfield
the only one now active is the Northfield Knife Co., which was

i88 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

incorporated in 1858, with John S. Barnes as President and Samuel
Mason as Secretary, leasing and later buying the plant of an earlier
factory, the Northfield Manufacturing Co. Barnes was succeeded
as President by Mason, and in 1865 by Franklin H, Catlin, with
J. Howard Catlin as Secretary and Treasurer. The business was
rapidly built up, and has attained an enviable reputation for the
finest grade of pocket cutlery. Exhibits were made at the World's
Fairs at Philadelphia, 1876; Paris, 1878; Chicago, 1892; and Buffalo,
1901; prizes being received at each. At Buffalo, over a thousand
styles of knives were showii. In L919, the name and plant were
sold to the Clark Brothers Cutlery Co., of Kansas City.

Among the natives of Northfield, John Pierpont Humiston should
be mentioned as the inventor of the first duplex telegraph instru-
ment. He was born 1816, a grandson of John Humaston, and was
apprenticed as a l>oy to a local carriage maker. He bought his
last year of service for $342.50, for which amount he gave his note.
After working in New Haven and Seymour, he turned his attention
to electricity. His invention of the duplex telegraph allowed four
messages to be sent over one wire, two each way. He also invented
machines for the quick writing and receiving of telegraphic charac-
ters. He sold his patents to the American Union Co., at the time
of the Civil War, and after many years in the courts realized only
$5,000., for patents which have proved of great valua The diffi-
culty was caused by the Government taking over the American
Union's lines, and that Company selling out to the Western Union.
The latter Company did not recognize Humiston's claim, and
although after a long lawsuit he obtained a verdict for $16,000.,
the amount was greatly reduced by costs. Mr. Humiston died in
Northfield at the age of 88, in 1904, and was at the time of his
death the oldest resident of the village.

The facts relative to Northfield have been furnished by Albert
M. Turner, the Field Secretary of the Connecticut State Park Com-
mission. It is interesljjng to notice the important part that he and
Horace Bushnell, also a native of our township, (he was born in
Bantam in 1802), have played in the development of Connecticut
parks.

Horace Bushnell was the originator of the project to make a
public Park in the center of the city of Hartford. After a long
fight for such an innovation, his plan was successfully carried
through in 1854, the park now bearing his name. This was the
first time that an appropriation of public funds was made in the
state, and very possibly in the nation, for the purchase of land
for park purposes. Heretofore, such parks or reservations as
existed had been set apart out of public land or out of private gifts.
It is hard to realize to-day, when millions of dollars are being spent
annually by municipalities, states and the nation, for the purchase
of land for park purposes and for the establishment of public forests.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 189

how recently and with what diflficulty the first appropriation of
the kind was made.

Albert M. Turner, as Field Secretary of the State Park Cora-
mission, has been the chief instrument in carrying out the extensive
plans of that body since its formation in 1913. This State was
one of the last to have a Park Commission, but it has made up for
lost time by its wise and energetic action. It is also interesting
to note that the first gift to the Commission of land was made by
Mrs. G. A. Senff, of New York, of a tract on Mount Tom, lying
partly in Litchfield, and partly in Morris and Washington. The
tower at the summit of Mount Tom is included in the area of this
park. It was constructed in 1888, from a design by Professor Henry
S. Munroe, of the Department of Mining of Columbia University
and a summer resident of Litchfield; the tower is 30 feet high and
was modeled after an oil well tower and was so well designed and
built that it is still in service at the present time, having withstood
the high winds and storms of 32 years. The tower is 1,291 feet
above sea level at its base.

MILTOX.

The village of Milton was settled from Litchfield about 1740.
Some settlers also came from New Milford, notably David Welch,
who built the oldest house now standing there, located at the
entrance to the village on the Litchfield road. It dates from 1745
and is the oldest house anywhere in our township, with the single
exception of the Vaill House, at the foot of Brush Hill, which is
a year older, but extensively remodeled. The Welch house is now
known as the Bissell House, as it was the home of William Bissell,
who was Captain of the Litchfield Company in the Litchfield County
Regiment in the Civil War. The house in Milton now known as the
Welch House is situated at the farther extremity of the village and
dates from 1774. This belonged to another branch of the same
family.

There was no church in Milton, which was at first known as
West Faims, until 1795, when the Parish was set off and incor-
porated, including parts of the townships of Goshen, Cornwall and
Warren. The building of the Episcopal Church was begun in
1802. Morris says, p. 105, that neither of these churches was com-
pleted in 1814. The Episcopal church is said to have been com-
pleted in 1827, and to have been dedicated in 1837. The bell was
added in 1843, a gift from Garry Welch and Hugh P. Welch. There
has also been a Methodist church in Milton, which was moved to
Bantam some years ago and converted into a dwelling.

The Burying Ground lies nearly a mile west of the village, in
a sheltered valley, enclosed by a substantial wall of quarried stone.
Charles T. Payne says, p. 174, that no record of the date when this
Cemetery Avas laid out remains, beyond the evidence of several
tombstones of the Revolutionary period. It is spoken of in a deed

190 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

of 1790, but is probably of considerably earlier date. Additions
were made to it in 1813 and 1872.

"Within the parochial limits of Milton", says Morris, p. 105,
"there are five saw-mills; two grist-mills; two iron works; one trip-
hammer; one carding machine for wool; one machine for manu-
facturing wooden clocks; one waggon-maker; two turners; two shoe-
makers; six whole school districts; and six school-houses, in which
schools are kept through the year, by males in the winter season,
and by females in the summer. The price for schoolmasters, is
from 9 to 12 dollars per month and their board ; for school-mistresses,
from 5 to 6 shillings per week and their board". By the concen-
tration of industries in the valleys and by the centralization of the
schools, this long list of a century ago is reduced to one mill and
one school.

The Shepherd Knapp Fresh Air Home, which is located on the
hill east of the village of Milton, was founded in 1905 by Mrs.
Shepherd Knapp of Litchfield and New York, in memory of her
husband. It is maintained as a branch of the New Y'ork Tribune
Fresh Air Fund, and gives happy summer outings of two weeks
each to a thousand or more city children everj- year.

Among the citizens of Milton should be mentioned one of the
Revolutionary soldiers of the village, John Griswold, whom Eliza-
beth C. Barney Buel, in her lecture to the Litchfield Scientific Asso-
ciation, on the Industries of Litchfield, describes as the maker of the
first model of an "iron Monitor". This he tested out on Milton
Pond, so that it cannot have been very large. He never did any-
thing with his invention, and heard of Ericsson's earliest experi-
ments with an iron turreted ship only two days before he died,
December 22, 1847. Ericsson's experiments did not bear fruit until
the real Monitor was constructed, fifteen years later.

BANTAM.

The following account of Bantam has been summarized from
data specially contributed by Herman Foster of that Borough.
Originally the name Bantam was given to the whole district, covering
so extensive an area that our Goshen was known as New Bantam
prior to its settlement in 1738. When our tOAvnship was denomi-
nated Litchfield in 1715, the name Bantam was used in a constantly
more restricted sense, until at one time only the Lake and the
Falls carried on the name. The remainder of the present village,
towards the West, was known as Bradleyville, from the Bradley
family, several branches of which were prominent here in the early
Nineteenth Century. Here the old Bradleyville Tavern was the
Mecca for excursions of the young people from Litchfield, and one
of the regular stopping places for the four horse coaches from New
York and Danbury.

The origin of the name Bantam has caused much perplexity.
Morris and Woodruff attribute it without question to an Indian
origin. Kilboume suggested that it might have been derived from

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 191

an East Indian Bantam in Java. This remote town, being known
to the early English traders as a wild r^on, inhabited by a race
of barbarians, would, according to the Kilbonme theory, naturally
have lent its name to a similar tract in the New World. His theory
has always been interesting, but never entirely convincing. It should
not be dismissed without a study of the various arguments he pre-
sents, which space prevents our reproducing here. We may add a
curious circumstance to the evidence he presents, namely that, when
Ohio was being settled largely from Connecticut after the sale of
the Western Reserve lands, two of the villages near Cincinnati
were called respectively Bantam and Batavia- They are nearer
indeed to one another in Ohio than their namesakes are in Java,
and the Bantam unquestionably came by way of our township.
There are also, for those who seek a remote ancestor, a Cape Ban-
tam in Indo-China, and a village of Bantama in the Gold Coast of
Africa.

This plurality of barbarian Bantams suggests that the word
is perhaps a corruption of some native jargon as heard by English
ears, and this brings us back to the older hypothesis that it sprung
from some phrase of our own Indian tribes. One interesting sup-
position says that Pe-an-tum meant a Praying Indian, referring to
some early local chief converted perhaps by the first Moravian mis-
sionary visits into the Wilderness from the Dutch settlements
beyond the Hudson. Unfortunately for such a tradition, no Mora-
vians came to our parts until ten years or more after the name
Bantam was in general use, and even then it is doubtful if they
came any nearer than to New MUford. The sum total of the
discussion is that we shall never know more of the etymology of
Bantam than of that of the later name for the township, Litchfield.
New evidence is more likely to confuse than to explain.

The outlet of Bantam Lake, as it approaches the present village
of Bantam, tumbles nearly one hundred feet in the course of three-
quarters of a mile, in which distance there were at one time six
dams furnishing water power for as many varied industries. After
leaving Bantam, the stream races on down the hills and through
the valleys, until its waters finally are merged in the Shepaug River,
passing on into the Housatonic River, and thence into Long Island
Sound.

This wealth of water power has made Bantam potentially the
richest section of the township. Recognition of the advantages
presented was slow in coming. In the chapter on the older indus-
tries, we found here little beyond the paper mill and the other mills,
not notably in advance of those elsewhere in the town. As the indus-
tries of Connecticut began to pass from the hilltops to the valleys
in the forties, Bantam was still comparatively neglected. In 1876,
C. F. Flynn and William Doyle formed the firm of Flynn and Doyle,
took over the business of the earlier Litchfield Carriage Company,
and, until 1911, carried on an extensive manufacture of carriages.

192 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

wagons and sleighs, reaching in some years an output of $40,000.
Their products were of a high standard and their market extended
far beyond the state. In 1911, the Company was merged into the
Flynn and Doyle Co., which was continued until the death of Mr.
Flynn. Mr. Doyle carried on the business for another year, until
1918, when it was discontinued. In April, 1919, the factory was
taken over by the Bantam Auto Repair Station.

It was not till about 1900 that the great growtli of Bantam
began. In twenty years the population has grown from 400 to
1,000, actually stemming the tide of declining population which for
over a century has steadily been depleting the whole township. If
our resident population is again to increase materially, the impetus
will probably continue to come mainly from this growing industrial
center. Besides the Flynn and Doyle Co., should be mentioned the
Litchfield Electric Light and Power Co.; the Connecticut Electric
Co., manufacturers of electric fixtures; the Trumbull-Vanderpoel
Co., manufacturers of electric switches; and the Bantam Ball Bear-
ing Co., manufacturers of ball and roller bearings. Further
particulars regarding the business of these several plants will be
found in the Appendix.

Another extensive industry of quite another kind is situated
just outside of Bantam, on the north-west shore of the Lake. This
is the Berkshire Ice Co., whose long trains pull out daily in the
simimer, carrying concentrated relief from the Litchfield Hills to
the larger cities to the southwards. Some idea of the work done
by the Company on the Lake during the coldest days of the winter
may be gathered from the single fact that it takes forty acres of
ice one foot in thickness to furnish the 75,000 tons required to fill the
ice-house of the Company. In the harvesting of ice, the electricity
furnished by the harnessing of the Bantam Falls does the work
of great bodies of men.

The village of Bantam has been incorporated as a Borough
since 1915. The incorporation was due to the energies of W. S.
Rogers, Avhen he was a member of the state legislature, and it has
resulted in furnishing the village Avith many advantages, such as
sidewalks, sewers, fire protection, and the like. Mr. Rogers has
been in many respects the presiding genius of Bantam. The pros-
perity enjoyed by the Bantam Ball Bearing Co., has been translated
by him into terms of civic improvement which have benefited the
whole community. About five years ago, he purcliase<l the present
Borough Hall from the old Bantam Village Improvement Society,
and made it a gift to the borough. It is largely used for borough
uses and for social entertainments. During the war it furnished
indoor drilling space for the Bantam platoon of the Litchfield
Home Guard.

Other gifts of Mi\ Rogers have been made in connection with his
factory and the welfare of his employees, which has ahvays been a
prime consideration with him and his assistant. Miss Nellie M. Scott.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 193

The recreation theatre and club-room in the new building of the fac-
tory is also used for certain entertainments of the churches, and for
moving picture plays for the school-children, and for other popular
purposes. An Athletic Field is also one of the assets of Bantam,
through this company, with its baseball teams, a gun-club, and
similar organizations.

Besides its extensive manufacturing growth. Bantam is also
gaining in prestige through its nearness to the Lake. While the
summer resort region of the Lake, with its several Hotels, numerous
boarding houses, boys' and girls' camps, and many private camps,
is over the border in the town of Morris, the railway connection
for the district is principally through Bantam, which also furnishes
extended shopping facilities.

Originally, Bantam Falls and Bradleyville were divided like
the rest of the town into several school districts, each with its
separate school building. In 1893 the new central school in Ban-
tam was opened, replacing the several scattered older little build-
ings by a large and commodious edifice, which for some years
Bernard M. Roberg, Miss Josephine Mitchell, and Miss Baker have
made one of the most successful and popular schools in the town.
The old Bradleyville schoolhouse has now been converted into a
hen house by Teed Loveland.

Bantam's churches have been of the Episcopal, Methodist and
Baptist denominations. It is significant that there has been no
Congr^ational church, so that the village was not set off as a
separate parish, as were Milton, Northfield, and South Farms. This
undoubtedly contributed to retard the growth of the settlement,
from the subordinate position so long occupied by the other denomi-
nations.

St Paul's Episcopal church, as is told elsewhere, was born
of a temporary division in the First Episcopal Society. It was
located opposite the Bantam Burying Ground, and completed in
1797. It was a building 50 by 36 feet, with a steeple, deep galleries,
and an old fashioned high pulpit and sounding board, with all of the
antique surroundings corresponding to the age of its erection. The
new church, somewhat to the west, was built in 1843, and consecrated
the following year. Additions have since been made to it, including
a fine chancel with ornamental windows and a beautiful pipe
organ. The pastor of St. Paul's shares the pulpit in Milton,

The Baptist church in Bantam is not at present in use for ser-
vices. The Methodist church, however, which was built in 1901,
is very active, with a membership of over one hundred. The church
is a handsome one, free of debt, with an attractive home for its
pastors, and with a record of earnest endeavor which is leading to
continued growth.

It has seemed better to treat of the outlying villages of the
town separately in this chapter, so as to indicate something of their
individual characters, but their history is really inextricably inter-

154 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

woven in that of the whole township. Many details r^arding each
of these outlying districts will therefore be found elsewhere, in the
general accounts of the industries of the town, of its churches, and
of the parts played by the citizens in our wars. Many of the
names of the heroes of each village appear only under the combined
Honor Bolls of the whole township. Exact statistics for a sub-
division are not available, and after all the separate villages stUl
form, save for the loss of South Farms, one township. Litchfield
claims as its sons Horace Bushnell, who was bom in Bantam, and
John Pierpont, who was bom in South Farms, ahead of any other
ministers bom on its soil, excepting Henry Ward Beecher; and the
future of the township, as well as its past, is dependent on a united
growth, which will be brought closer by the gradual improvement in
the roads between villages, and in the organizations, like th« Farm
Bureau, which unite the corresponding interests of the separate
sections.

' '5^' A

It' ^

CHAPTER XIX.
THE CHURCHES.

THE THIRD AND FOURTH CONGREOATIONAL CHURCHES.

In 1827 the First Ecclesiastical Society voted to erect a new
church, on the site occupied by the present (fourth) Congregational
Church. The church was completed in two years, and dedicated
on the same day that the installation took place, July 15, 1829, of the
new pastor. Rev. Laurens P. Hickok. A copy of Park Street
Church of Boston, standing high above a flight of massive granite
steps, with tall pillared porch, it was a well built, imposing edifica
It stood until the building of the fourth church in 1873; it was
then moved to the Torrington Road, where for many years it was
known as Armory Hall, while about six years ago it was bought
by George Barber and the name changed to Colonial Hall. It is
used as a public Hall for general purposes and more particularly
for a Moving Picture Theatre.

The first pipe-organ of the Society was installed in August 1829.
It was made by Jackson, in New York, and was sent by boat to
New Haven, from whence it was brought in three great loads. It
was the gift of Jabez W. Huntington, William H. Thompson, and
Dr. Sheldon.

The Congregational Church has been fortunate in having a
long series of devoted ministers, the na^-.es of a few of whom are
especially connected with Litchfield. Admirable biographies of
them are to be found in a scrap book of the Church compiled by
Miss Anna W. Richards, and preserved in the collections of the
Litchfield Historical Society.

Miss Richards' father, Rev. George Richards, was the pastor
of the church from 1860 to 1865, during the troubled days of the
Civil War. He assisted largely in moulding the loyal public
opinion of Litchfield, and stood steadfast and strong in maintain-
ance of our endangered institutions.

Rev. Allan McLean, who was minister from 1875 to his death
in 1882, is remembered as a man of high literary gifts as well as
of a sympathetic and kindly nature. On October 1, 1876, he
delivered an address on the History of the Litchfield church, which
remains a valuable source of information about the early years
of the parish.

His successor. Rev. Charles Symington, was the pastor from
18S3 to 1894. Like the Rev. Allan McLean, he died before he was

196 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

forty five years of age, while in the full vigor of his ministry, much
lamented by his parishioners and fellow-townspeople.

The Kev. John Hutchins, who succeeded him, was his brother-
in-law; he was a deep student and his researches had a wide range,
covering the fields of astronomy and natural history. His love of
flowers and birds, and his knowledge of them, was very extensive,
and his influence was especially helpful in stimulating additions to
the scientific collections now owned by the Historical Society. He
died on February 20, 1915.

The modem C^othic church now used "by the Society was built
in 1873, and the Chapel in the same year. The prayer, at the dedi-
cation services, was offered by Eev. Laurens P. Hickok, who had
dedicated the previous church in 1829, forty four years before.

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

The following account of the early days of the Episcopal Church
in Litchfield is from Kilboume's History, pp. 177-182:

"In 1735, John Davies, of Kinton, Hertfordshire, England, pur-
chased a tract of land in the south-west comer of the township,
and not long after took up his abode in that wild and unfrequented
region. He was warmly attached to the doctrines and forms of
the Church of England, and was for some time the only Episcopalian
in Litchfield. The unpopularity of Mr. Collins, of the Congre-
gational Society, at length induced several of the leading members
of his congregation to withdraw themselves from his ministry and
to look elsewhere for religious instruction. On November 5, 1745, a
meeting was called at the house of Captain Jacob Griswold at
which the First Episcopal Society of Litchfield was organized. The
first service after the English ritual was performed in this town
by the Eev. Dr. Samuel Johnson, President of King's (now Columbia)
College in the city of New York. At an adjourned Town-meeting, held
February 16, 1747, it was voted, that 'those who declared themselves
members of the Church of England last year, shall be discharged
from paying two-thirds of the Rate that was made for them to pay
the last year*. This was one short step towards Toleration. In that
year John Davies deeded to the Episcopal Society in Litchfield a
tract of land situated about one mile west of the present Court
House, containing 52 acres. This deed was in the form of a lease,
for the term of 999 years, for the use of the 'Society for Propagating
the Gospel in Foreign Parts', for which there was to be paid 'one
pepper-corn annually, at or upon the Feast of St. Michael the Arch-
angel, if lawfully demanded' The first church edifice of the

Parish was raised upon this tract, April 23, 1749, It was covered;
seats, pulpit, reading desk and chancel were made; and it was used
in this condition for about twenty years before it was finished. It
was named St. Michael's, by request of Mr. Davies". This church
stood on the south side of the Bantam Road, about a mile from the
center, at the top of the hill beyond the little Hatters' Brook. From

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 197

the notes published with the Centennial Sermon of the Rev. Isaac
Jones, J!^ovember 5, 1845, it would appear that the original gift of
Mr. Davies included about fifty acres, that Daniel Landon gave a
second tract of fifty acres adjoining, and that Mr. Davies bought
two acres more, so as to give the Society access to the Brook. Kil-
bourne says the gift of Daniel Landon was 50 acres "lying west-
ward of the Great Pond, near a mountain called Little Mount Tom".
However this may be, when the church was given up for the one
built on South Street in 1810, all the outlying land of the church
was sold and the proceeds invested for the benefit of the Society.

"In 1749, John Davies, Jr., the only surviving son of the first
benefactor of the parish, came over from Hertfordshire, with a wife
and several young children, and settled near his father, south-west
of Mount Tom, at a place still known as Davies Hollow. As he
was a gentleman of good estate and an ardent churchman, his
arrival was regarded as an important accession to the Episcopal
Society. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Powell, was
very reluctant to leave her native land. That she should have
regarded her new home in the wilderness as cheerless and lonely,
compared with the scenes she had left, is not to be wondered at. In
writing home to her English friends, she is said to have described
herself as 'entirely alone, having no society, and nothing to asso-
ciate with but Presbyterians and Wolves'. The reader may be
interested in the fact, that though the wolves long since disappeared
from Davies Hollow, some of her own descendants are now num-
bered among the sect of Christians which she seems to have regarded
with such abhorrence.

"From the organization of the society in 1745, to 1754, they were
without a settled minister. The Rev. Drs. Mansfield, Johnson,
Cutler and Beach, occasionally officiated here; and in the absence
of a clergyman, prayers were sometimes read by Mssrs. Davies,
Landon and Cole. The first rector of St. Michael was the Rev.
Solomon Palmer, who had been pastor of the Congregational Church
in Cornwall from 1741 to 1754. In March of the preceding year,
to the great surprise and grief of his people, he on the Sabbath
publicly announced himself an Episcopalian in sentiment. He
soon after sailed for England, where he was ordained Deacon and
Priest; and returned to this country during the same year, 1754,
bearing a commission from the Venerable Society as missionary for
Litchfield, Cornwall and Great Barrington".

Owing to the disfavor with which the Church of England was
looked upon during the Revolution, St. Michael's was closed for
three years, and re-opened in 1780. The Rev. James Nichols was
the rector at the time, and resumed his duties when the church was
re-opened. The Society from that time gradually increased in
numbers and in public favor. On the 26th of October, 1784, it
was incorporated by an Act of the General Assembly, and thereupon
it was duly organized according to law.

198 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

The Rev. James Nichols was the last man who went from Con-
necticut to England to secure ordination, and his successor, Rev.
Ashbel Baldwin, a native of Litchfield, was the first man to be
ordained in the United States, upon the return of Bishop Seabury,
who had gone to Scotland to be consecrated. The ordination was
held at Middletown, August 3, 1785.

In 1796, a large number of Episcopalians residing in the west-
erly part of the town seceded and formed the Second Episcopal
Society. In 1803, the two Societies were amicably re-united, and
so continue at the present time. During this interval of disunion
the Second Society built itself a church opposite the Cemetery
in Bantam, which became known as the Old West Church and was
occupied for worship until 1843; when a new edifice was built a
short distance farther west. The new church was called St. Paul's.

The churches of St. Michael in Litchfield, St. Paul's in Bantam,
and Trinity in Milton, all form part of the First Episcopal Society ;
while Trinity Church in Northfield belongs to a separate society.

In 1810 there was still no Episcopal Church within the present
limits of our Borough. This served to help in retarding the
growth of the congregation, and in that year it was decided to
give up the original church and to build on the site now in use.
This second St. Michael's church was retained until 1851; when the
third church was built on the same site. A fourth church, in
stone, is in course of erection at the time of writing, 1920, a gift
to St Michael's Parish from Henry R. Towne, in memory of his
wife, Mrs. Cora White Towne

The history of the Litchfield parish during the nineteenth
century was uneventful. One of the rectors, Rev. H. N. Hudson,
who was in charge from 1858 to 1860, is remembered for his
Shakespeare studies, his edition of the Plays having remained the
standard American edition for many years. Part of his great
work was carried out while he was resident here.

On April 11, 1894, in a great storm, the steeple of the church
was blown over. It was not replaced.

No mention of St. Michael's parish would be adequate which did
not speak of the Rev. Storrs O. Seymour, who was the rector from
1879 to 1883, and again from 1893 to 1916, and Rector Emeritus until
his death in 1918. Dr. Seymour, was born in Litchfield in 1836, the
son of Judge Origen Storrs Seymour. He was educated at Andover,
and graduated from Yale in 1857, and from the Berkeley Divinity
School in 1861. During the years that he was absent from Litchfield
he was successively rector of parishes in Milford and Bethel, Conn.,
Pawtucket, R. I,, and Norwich and Hartford, Conn. He was a member
of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Connecticut from 1876
until his death, and was the chairman of the Committee since 1896.
He received the Honorary Degree of D. D. from Trinity College in
1897. He was also for many years a Trustee of Berkeley Divinity

'I'hk Third (Present) St. Muhah.'s F.hisi opai. CHrRCH. 1851

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 199

SchooL The affection which Dr. Seymour inspired in everyone in
Litchfield, in his church and outside of it, is a recent and tender
memory.

THE METHODIST CHURCH.

Of the beginnings of Methodism in Litchfield, Kilbourue tells
us the following, pp. 183-184: "In June, 1790, the Rev. Freeborn
Garretson, one of the ablest and most earnest Apostles of Method-
ism in America, visited Litchfield on his way from the Hudson
river to Boston. He was at that time Superintendent of the North-
em District, and, in his itinerant journeyings, was almost invariably
attended by his colored servant, Harry, who was himself a licensed
preacher of no mean distinction. They traveled together on horse-
back apparently vieing with each other in their zeal for the pro-
motion of the cause of their common Master. On Wednesday, June
23, (as we learn from Dr. Stevens' Memorials of Methodism), Mr.
Garretson "rode seven miles to Litchfield, and was surprised to
find the doors of the Episcopal church open, and a large congre-
gation waiting for him. He discoursed from the words: 'Enoch
walked with God', and believed good was done. He left Harry to
preach another sermon, and went on to the centre of the town; the
bell rang, and he preached to a few in the Presbyterian meeting-
house, and lodged with a kind churchman". On the same day, Mr.
Garretson wrote in his diary: "I preached in the skirts of the town,

where I was opposed by , who made a great disturbance. I

told him the enemy had sent him to pick up the good seed, turned
my back on him, and went my way, accompanied by brothers W. and
H. I found another waiting company, in another part of the town,
to whom I declared: 'Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish'.
In this town we have given the devil and the wicked much trouble;
we have a few good friends". On his return from Boston, Mr,
Garretson again preached in Litchfield, Friday, July 13, 1790".

The Eev. Geo. C. Boswell adds, Book of * Days, p. 99: -'It is
pleasant to remember that the Episcopal and Congregational
churches in Litchfield were open to the early itinerant. His

colaborers in other parts of the State did not generally fare so
well".

Kilbourne, continuing, says: "The Litchfield Circuit was organ-
ized during the spring of 1790, and embraced the north-western sec-
tion of Connecticut. ... On July 21, 1791, the famous Bishop
Asbury preached in the Episcopal church in this town. In refer-
ence to his visit here, he wrote: 'I think Morse's account of his
countrymen is near the truth; never have I seen any people who
could talk so long, so correctly and so seriously about trifles. . . .'

"In 1837, a handsome church edifice was erected by the Method-
ists, in Meadow Street, which was dedicated on July 27 of that
year. The dedication seraion was preached by Professor Holdich,
of the Wesleyan University; and an appropriate discourse was
delivered by the Eev. Mr, Washburn,

200 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

"The late Eev. Horace Agard and the Rev. Joseph L. Morse are,
so far as I can leam, the only natives of the town who have become
Methodist ministers".

In 1885 the present Methodist church on West Street was bnilt
to accomodate the increasing congregation, and the old church was
converted into the Masonic Hall of St. Paul's Lodge, No. 11, F. and
A. M.

In addition to the church in the center, there have been three
other Methodist churches in the town, one at Milton and one near
Mount Tom, but the use of these two is at the present time dis-
continued. The third is the Methodist church in Bantam, an
account of which is given elsewhere.

THE BAPTIST CHURCH.

There is at the present moment no Baptist church in active
use within the township. The Clergy of Litchfield County tells of
very early churches in Northfield and in Footville, the westerly
part of South Farms; but both of these have disappeared long ago.
Their only successor still standing is the building of the Baptist
church in Bantam. The Baptist Society of Bantam Falls was
formed on January 18, 1853, with ten charter members. This
society was merged, January 4, 1891, into the Baptist Society of
Bantam, Conn., which continued to hold services until about 1903.
In 1908, a new and very unusual opportunity came to this church.
The opening of a saloon was contemplated opposite the factory of
the Bantam Anti-Friction Co., now the Ball Bearing Co. Relying
on the law that no saloon can be opened within a given distance of
a church, W. S. Rogers, with characteristic energy, offered to bring
the Baptist church up from its location near the falls to a position
on South Street, near the factory. On June 19, 1908, a committee
was appointed by the church to make arrangements with Mr. Rogers,
and soon after the little building began its march up the hill into
its new field of action. It was nearly two weeks upon the road,
and appropriately rested on the two Sundays of its journey in
turn opposite to the Methodist church, which had developed through
the separation of a group of members from the Baptist Society itself,
and then opposite to the Episcopal church of St. Paul. On its
new site and under a new environment, it renewed its activities,
with new members, new financial support and a new social order of
affairs. In May, 1909, Ray H. Legate was called to the pulpit, and
services were conducted under several pastors until 1915, when the
services were discontinued. During the European War, the build-
ing was turned over to the Bantam branch of the Litchfield Chapter.
American Red Cross, where yoeman service was performed by the
ladies of Bantam.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

''The first Catholics to come within the confines of Litchfield
were three Acadians, the victims of English oppression. Sybil Shear-

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 201

away, one of them, married Thomas Harrison in 1764 and their
descendants are still residents of Litchfield". (Rev. J. H. O'Don-
nell. History of the Diocese of Hartford, 1900, p. 293).

"It is not until January 1759", (Kilboume, p. 77), "that our
town records make any allusion to these people. At this date it
was 'voted that the Selectmen may provide a house or some suit-
able place in the town, for the maintenance of the French'. In the
County Treasurer's book, also, occurs the following entry, 'To paid
John Newbree for keeping William Dunlap and the French persons,
54s. 6d. which the County allowed, and R. Sherman, Justice of the
Quorum, drew an order dated April 25, 1760, as per order on file* ",

"From this time on we find no trace of Catholicity in Litchfield
until the period when Irish emigration was at its height. Irish
people settled here in the rural districts and devoted themselves to
the pursuits of agricultural life. . . .

"The first priest to visit Litchfield was the Rev. John Smith, of
Albany, who made a missionary tour through this section of the
State in 1848 on horseback, seeking out and ministering to the
Catholics whom he might find hera On one of these tours he
tarried at Litchfield and said Mass, but where, has passed from
remembrance. Bishop O'Reilly visited Litchfield on February
25, 1851, as his journal informs us. . . .

"The second Mass was said in the house occupied at the time
by John Ryan, on the west side of North Lake Street. This historic
Mass was said by Rev. Philip Gillick in 1853, in the presence of
twenty persons. At this time, or at least in the same year, was
solemnized the first Catholic marriage in Litchfield, Father Gillick
officiating". (Diocese of Hartford, p. 293).

A convert to the Catholic faith, born in Litchfield, Miss Julia
Beers, purchased a small building, in 1858, whicii now forms part
of the pastoral residence. The present dining room of the house,
she arranged with altar and seats, and here Mass was said at fre-
quent intervals until 1861, when increasing numbers made removal
to the Court House necessary. In 1868, the first church was com-
pleted. During these years and until 1882 the pastors of Winsted
served the people of Litchfield. On September 8, 1882, Litchfield
was made an independent Parish, with the Rev. M. Byrne the first
resident pastor. During the administration of Rev. Timothy M.
Sweeney, the present Church was built, at a cost of $23,000.

As auxiliaries to the pastors of St. Anthony's parish, Miss Beers
and another convert, Miss Emma Deming, labored zealously to pro-
mote the welfare of the Church and its congr^ation. Miss Beers,
in the last years of her life, lived in Rome, where she is buried.

CEMETERIES.

The work of Charles T. Payne, Litchfield and Morris Inscrip-
tions, 1905, was published at the suggestion and with the support
of Dwight C. Kilboum. It gives a complete and admirable state-

202 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

nient of all the Cemeteries and private Burying Grounds in the
original limits of the township, together with transcripts of all the
inscriptions down to 1900, which were l^ble when the collection
was made. Particulars regarding the several Cemeteries in South
Farms, Northfleld, Milton, and Bantam are given elsewhere from
this same source. We will quote here the notes of Mr. Payne on
our West and East Cemeteries, pp. 8, 54.

'•The West Burying Ground is the earliest of the Burial places
in Litchfield, and its establishment was nearly contemporaneous
with the founding of the Town. The first notice of it appears in
VoL I of the Land Records, as follows:

" 'An acompt of the High Ways in Litchfield in 1723 ... the
2d high way Running East and West between Samuel Smedly his
home Lott and the Widow alien's home Lott of twenty eight Rods
in bredth Sixty Rods West and then is twelue Rods Wide down to
the swamp and then is laid out but six rods Wide thorou the swamp
Which highway runs on the West side of the letle plain buting
north upon Land Laid out to John Gay to make up the fifteen acres
for his home Lott and so continuel a West Line until it comes to
the swamp or flooded Lands and all the Land ui)on the letele playn
South of said highway to the swamp or flooded land which is not
yet Laid out is Resarued and Laid out for a burying placa Which
highway at the West End of the litle plain or burying place runs six
Rods Wide throro the swamp and across the hill called buck's Neak
With the same corce and bredth until it comes to the pine plain
Which high Way is Called by name of Middiel Street'.

"Here were interred nearly all of the pioneers of Litchfield and
the yard remained the principal burying ground of the Town until
the Revolution-

"Early in the Nineteenth Century a large tract was added on
the Western side". The Roman Catholic Cemetery adjoins this
upon the West.

"The East Burying Ground has become the largest of the ceme-
teries in the township, although it was the third one to be estab-
lished, and was at first, as is noted below, a part of the highway
set apart for the purpose. It lies half a mile east of the court-house.
The following record in the first town book is of interest:

" 'September 26, 1754 ... At the same Meeting Messrs. Samuel
Culver Joshua Garritt & Edward Phelps were chosen committee to
lay out a Burying Place in the East Side of the Town where & how
much they shall think proper'.

"The laying out of this ground is recorded in the land records
under date pf January 12, 1755. . . .

"In 1837 the yard was enlarged upon its western side by an
addition of sixteen rods. The next year further extension was made
on the northern side, and the town voted a part of the highway for
the same purpose. The stone wall in front of the ground on East
Street was built about 1850 by subscription.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 203

"Within fifteen years a corporation known as the Litchfield
Cemetery Association has purchased a tract of land between the
ancient yard and Torrington Boad and has laid it out with much
care. Many fine monuments have been erected upon the new
ground.

"In the southeast comer of the old burying yard lie a great
nimiber of Revolutionary soldiers who died during the war, and
were buried here without any distinguishing marks".

CHAPTER XX.

THE OLD ORDER CHANGES.

Frederick Wolcott died at Litchfield on Sunday morning, May
28, 1837. The funeral Sermon was preached by the pastor of the
Congregational Church, Rev. Jonathan Brace, who said in closing:
" ... He is gone, and he is the last of his order. Reeve has been
carried cut before him. ..."

And in the Personal Memories of E. D. Mansfield, p. 125, after
reading of the Wolcotts, Tallmadges, Seymours, Buels, Tracy, and
others, we come on this passage: "All this is gone, and nothing can
illustrate the evanescent state of our society more than the changes
which it has undergone in many of the old places in the old states.
However excellent or able may be the people who live in Litch-
field now, there is no such social glory, no such marked superiority
there, as that which distinguished the noted people of Litchfield in
the generation just passing away, when I came upon the stage.
The change in people, manners, and conditions is quite as great
as the change in the dress of gentlemen. When I was a law
student, 1823, a few old gentlemen still retained the dress of the
Revolution. It was a powdered queue, white-topped boots, silk
stockings, and breeches with buckles. I can remember to have seen
David Daggett, chief justice, and a half dozen others, walking in
the streets with this dignified dress. It is in vain to say that the
present dress is at all equal to it, in what ought to be one of the
objects of good dress, to give an idea of dignity and respect. The
man who is now inside of a plain black dress, with unpretending
boots, may be as good a man, as able a man, as he in white-topped
boots and breeches, but he is not respected as much, for he no
longer assumes as much. He has become only one of a multitude
instead of being one above a multitude".

Certainly great changes have come upon Litchfield; we have
only to compare the wilderness of 1720, with a few settlers dwelling
in their log huts, without flour to bake bread, without even an
apple or adequate seeds to raise vegetables; with the social, educa-
tional, commercial center of 1820, when the chief magistrate of
the State lived in Litchfield, and the teachings of Lyman Beecher
were to be heard twice every Sunday. Or again we have only to com-
pare this Litchfield of 1820 with the summer resort of 1920, when
we no longer give out an influence important far beyond the County,
but instead receive and welcome those from outside our borders, and
give them a measure of recreation and health, to do which we seem
particularly adapted.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 205

Such changes as these are very hard for us to realize. Barely
two lifetimes, as lifetimes are counted in Litchfield, have passed in
the course of these changes. Reuben Dickinson, a resident of Mil-
ton, was bom in Massachusetts in the year 1716, four years before
the settlement of Litchfield ; he died in Milton on November 5, 1818,
at the age of 102 years. His great-grand-nephew, Edwin Perry
Dickinson was bom in Milton on January 4, 1821, and is now living
there, in good health, in his one-hundredth year.

As we look back, it is not possible to say, this period ends here,
or that period begins there. But we make such generalizations,
knowing them to be inaccurate, so as to have some measure, even if
the measure be inexact, of the transitions our town has passed
through. As a matter of fact, the transition is constant. Our
town has never stood still. Each year definite links with the past
are broken, and new links with the future are being made. We
do not know what the future is to be, so we do not recognize the
importance of the new links ; and we never have the true perspective
of the immediate past, so we do not notice the parting links. It
is only at the death of a man, whose life has been noteworthy, as
was that of Frederick Wolcott, or after a radical change, such as
Mansfield noted, has become a completed fact, that we speak of the
old order changing. That is the shortcoming of history, and if we
speak of the year 1840 marking an important point in the story of
our town, we do so only because it is the end of a decade, and a
time somewhere near which certain influences, already long since
waning, seem to have entirely ceased, and others, already apparent,
first become dominating.

Of the passing influences, one was that of the men who had
been young and active in the days of the Revolution, men built in a
large mould, as it seems to us, or rather developed to a great pitch
of efficiency and public responsibility by the necessities of their
young manhood. On June 1, 1833, Oliver Wolcott Jr. died; on
March 7, 1835, Benjamin Tallmadge died; on May 28, 1837, Fred-
erick Wolcott died; on January 23, 1838, Julius Deming died; on
May 11, 1838, James Gould died. The old institutions of Litch-
field also changed in this period: the Law School was closed in
1833; on October 31 of the same year, Miss Gimbred became the
principal of the Litchfield Academy in the stead of Miss Sarah
Pierce. Tapping Reeve, Moses Seymour, Uriah Tracy had died at
dates much earlier. Lyman Beecher had been called to a larger
field in Boston in 1826.

But the change was not alone in the passing of a few men.
The whole population of Litchfield was involved. As we have not
yet referred to the numerical population of the township, a few
figures may be in order here.

In 1756, the inhabitants of Litchfield township, including South
Farms, numbered 1,366. The population of the state was 130,612,

2o6 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Litchfield was the 3oth town in population in the state, and included
about 1 per cent, of the total number of inhabitants.

The growth was rapid. In 1774, we had 2,544 inhabitants;
in 1782, 3,077; in 1800, 4,285. Litchfield was then the 10th town in
the state. In 1810, the jwpulation was 4,639; about 2 per cent of
the total for the state; and the town was the fourth in point of
population in the whole state. Only New Haven, Hartford and
Middletown were larger; but the remarkable thing is that New
Haven, the largest of all, was only half as large again as Litch-
field, its population being 6,967.

Then came the turn in the tide. In 1820, the population had
declined just a little to 4,610; but we had lost fourth place to
Groton. In 1830, Norwich and Saybrook passed us, and we were
seventh, with 4,456. In 1840, Bridgeport, Danbury and New Lon-
don passed us, leaving us the 10th town, with 4,038. In 1850, the
decline had reached 3,953. In 1860, owing to the separation of
South Farms, we fell to the 39th place in the state, with only 3,200
inhabitants. Since then the population has not greatly changed,
though it reached the lowest figure of all at the last census: 1870,
pop. 3,113; 1880, pop. 3,410; 1890, pop. 3,304; 1900, pop. 3,214; 1910,
pop. 3,005. At this last date we had fallen to the 64th township
in the stat^ with only one-quarter percent, out of a total popula-
tion for the state of 1^14,756. In other words, in just a century,
we have fallen from fourth to 64th place, and our population rela-
tive to that of the state has fallen from two per cent, to one-quarter
per cent. It should be added that there are in the state 168 town-
ships altogether.

It is possible that the low water mark of 1910 will be found
later to be the change in the tide. If so, it will be due solely to the
growth of Bantam as a manufacturing center.

There is another great change to be noticed about our popula-
tion. If we contrast the quaint statement of Morris, p. 95, "Only
two European families have settled in Litchfield; the^ came from
Ireland, and were respectable", with the constantly increasing for-
eign element at present, we shall get a real idea of the difference
in the population. It is impossible to give any figures in this con-
nection, because so many of our citizens of foreign birth have
become Americanized, that no one can say who the foreigners now
are. This is the happy solution of the immigration question, but
it does not alter the fact that the people of the town are now in
great part of other races than they were in 1820.

There is another change to be considered, at about this time,
which may seem a singular one to the reader; and that is the
importance of the weather. The weather of course has not changed,
but the way we consider it has. Our winters are proverbially
severe. Philip P. Hubbard, whose house is located at the foot of
P'ast Hill, near the river, where low temperatures are produced by
the atmospheric conditions, sometimes two or three degrees lower

If r^\

I 5^ n

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD a07

than on the Hill, has observed a mean low temperature of about
fifteen degrees below zero for a considerable period of years; while
the extreme in severe winters has been 27 below. The severity
of the climate is not due to these intensely cold spells, because th^
usually occur with crisp, sunny weather, and an absence of wind-
The most severe weather occurs when the temperature is slightly
above the minimum, but when high gales are raging, not infre-
quently attaining 80 miles an hour, and sometimes even more. The
exposed condition of the Hill aflfords little shelter from such gales,
and when they are accompanied by drifting snow, or the destructive
ravages of an ice storm, (see Plate 64), the experience is one to be
remembered.

One of the earliest great storms we read about was that on
Thanksgiving Day, 1779, when young John Cotton Smith, Governor
of the State in 1814, was a visitor with his father at Tapping
Reeve's house on his way from Sharon to New Haven, (Smith,
Colonial Days and Ways, 1900, pp. 301-307) : "We found the roads
badly drifted long before we reached what is now Ellsworth. At
that point we had to leave our sleigh, while we pursued our journey
on horseback. In those days no one travelled in any sort of a
vehicle without taking along saddles for use in emergency It
was dark before we reached Litchfield and the snow-laden wind
was piercingly cold. . . . During the night the storm increased in
violence and in the morning it was impossible to see many feet from
the door on account of the whirling masses of a snow so hard, dry
and powdery that it cut into the face like fine iron filings. ... In
traversing the short distance from the house to the barn to attend
to the wants of our animals, over a path hardly more than twenty
yards long and partly sheltered by the wood-shed, we were almost
blinded and bewildered. . . . On Wednesday the sun rose bright and
clear oA^er a dazzling desert of snow. The lower windows of most
of the houses were hidden beneath great piles of drift. In some
cases even the second story windows were hidden, or only visible
through openings in the drift like the hooded bastions of some icy
fort. . . . Fences and shrubs were obliterated. Trees, some looking
like mountains of snow and some like naked and broken skeletons,
arose here and thera And in the village only rising wreaths of
smoke told that life existed in the half buried houses. The Meeting
House spire was on one side decked by the icy snow with fantastic
semblances of marble statuary over which the new long, black light-
ning rod had been twisted by the wind until it looked like a Chinese
character. . . . By nine o'clock we climbed out of an upper story
window upon the hard crust of frozen snow and started off with
no other burden than the light, but cumbersome snow shoes attached
to our feet, and a small roll fastened to each of our backs".

A still earlier storm is told about, without the date, during
which Timothy Collins' wife, who became a physician like her
husband, when the latter left the Church, was called to Ooshen.

2q8 the history of LITCHFIELD

No other means of conveyance being possible, she was drawn all
the way thither on a hand sled by two men, relatives of the patient.
No effort was made to keep the roads open, even in the Center. As
late as the Revolution, occurs this vote, at a Town Meeting April
10, 1780: "The question being proposed whether the Selectmen
shall allow pay for making Snow Paths or Highway in the Winter?
Voted in the Negative".

Our storms often begin early in the winter and are met again
late in the spring. Noah Webster, in his Diary, p. 561, speaks of
a considerable fall of snow. May 8, 1803, adding, "In Litchfield the
ice was half an inch thick; but the trees not forward enough to
suffer any injury".

On March 22, 1837, there began a two days' ice storm which is
said to have done damage in the town to timber and orchards to
the extent of $100,000. During the winter of 1872-1873, Wil-
liam Norton came to church on runners for twenty consecutive
Sundays, a good record for the snow and for Mr. Norton too.
(Book of Days, p. 57). The most destructive ice-storm was on
February 19-20, 1898, when every tree in the town is said to have
suffered. Many were snapped off ten or fifteen feet from the
ground. Millions of icicles hung from the electric wires, which
sagged in great loops and finally broke. The very blades of grass
stood up stalagmites of ice. (Book of Days, p. 37). A year later,
another great storm swept over the country, February 13, 1899:
"After a week of bitterly cold weather, when the mercury at its
highest was only a few degrees above zero, and at its lowest threat-
ened to disappear altogether, the blinding snow of a great storm
filled the air. Drifts ten feet high were common enough; in some
cases, the snow reached to second-story windows. From Monday
noon till Wednesday night, Litchfield was under the snoAv block-
ade". (Book of Days, p. 33).

The winters of Litchfield are not all like this. The great
storms are the exception. Many weeks are clear, bright, with a
crisp snow that invites one out, or with the wonderful black ice on
the Great Pond, which makes such memorable skating for the
enthusiasts. Our rollicking diarist, George Younglove Cutler, gives
a delightful account of a real winter night out-of-doors, (Vander-
poel, pp. 204-205): "November 28, 1820. Went to Waterbury &
tomorrow morning before daylight, shall be obliged to be off in the
cold — thro' the snow on horseback to Litchfield — all for this vex-
atious law — cursed be the day when I first turned my face towards
the fields of litigation.

"November 29. It was no killing thing either. Much worse
would it be to hang. For the moon was bright, the snow full of
reflection, I full of breakfast, & Nate full of fire. While the cocks
of the country crowed about us for musick & the stars shot this
way and that about the heavens, as if making a display of fire-
works for our amusement. All was silent. As we rose the hills

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 209

k look back upon the far distance which ran down the valley
to the south east, the two extremes of the splendor of the united
powers of snow and moonbeams & the contrasted darkness of the
deep ravines into which light would not penetrate, filled the whole
view".

To return, now, to the argument that the winters of Litchfield
have assumed an importance different from that they played a
century ago, we should note that people are no longer content to
travel considerable distances on hoi'seback, or on snowshoes, or to
be pulled for miles on hand-sleds. If our motors cannot go through
we are greatly distressed. Even in the day of carriages and sleighs,
the winters' drifts of Litchfield were dreaded. Gradually the win-
ters have contributed more than would at first seem credible to the
change of life in many of our residents. The call to the cities
has been, in a small measure at least, accelerated, by the desire to
avoid the cold and the discomfort. The same is apparent in our
summer residents, who, even if they be persons of complete leisure
and robust health, would rarely think of spending a winter here.
Notice the closed houses of North Street and South Street on a
morning of mid- winter. By actual count, more than half are
closed, the larger percentage being on North Street. On Prospect
Street, every house will be found desolate. The same holds in the
outlying districts, where the large and small countryplaces are
growing up, as distinguished from the old farms.

But the great call to the cities was due to the growth of manu-
facturing towns in the State. It is strange to-day to think of
Litchfield, not being passed by Bridgeport and Danbury until 1840.
But once passed, what a rush there has been! How the little
manufactures have left our hill towns and clustered in the valleys!

In still another respect, and one certainly not anticipated at
the time, Litchfield was destined to drop behind. This was as a
center of traffic. When the rail-roads came, they were hailed as a
great innovation, a great developer of traffic and of trade. But
the railroads have left Litchfield high and dry, as they have many
another hill town. We lost in a few years all the through stage
traffic between Boston and Hartford and New York, between New
Haven and Albany; and all that came in its stead was the long
ride to New Milford, or later to East Litchfield, or later still the
restless tossing of the Shepaug, with its solitary passengers, fast
asleep, when the good old engine pulls its way at length into the
terminus at the foot of Litchfield Hill.

On February 11, 1840, the very year we have taken to mark
the changed conditions, the Housatonic Kailroad was opened as
far as New Milford. With the building of this road, the New
York and Albany stage, which used to roll through our streets at
unearthly hours in the morning, is heard no more. (Book of Days,
p. 33). In 1849, the first passenger train to Winsted over the
Naugatuck Railroad went through on September 22. Our own

210 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Shepaug Valley Railroad was not opened until January 1, 1872.
This was constructed largely as a result of the energetic public
spirit of Edwin McNeill. He had been a successful railroad builder
elsewhere and returned to his former home in Litchfield in 1863.
He first tried to have a road put through from Waterbury to the
north, not far from the center, by the Boston and Erie Railroad.
He saw clearly that what Litchfield needed was a through road,
which would connect it with various parts by a service of adequate
speed. He was unsuccessful in this, and finally determined to get
a branch road from Bethel and Hawleyville to Litchfield. The
story of the construction of the road is an unfortunate one through-
out. A great deal of money was sunk in the line, and the traffic,
being purely local, has never resulted in any success of operation.
It has been a great convenience to Litchfield and to all the towns
along the line; but it has never developed the trade or the extensive
passenger traffic which a through line would have done. To-day
it is much shorter to go to many points of the state by motor,
for instance to Hartford, than by train. Many men in Litchfield
supported Mr. McNeill, with money and influence; all cannot be
named, but J. Daning Perkins and Henry R. Coit should be men-
tioned.

As these changes gradually came about, it is interesting to con-
sider what new characteristics were developed. One of these is
especially important, the groT\'th of a historical spirit. Up to 1840,
very little attention was paid to the history of the town. The
only actual pamphlet on the subject was the often quoted Statistical
Account of James Morris, and this, if we want to be very exact, was
written in South Farms. In Litchfield, the life was so busy and
so much was being accomplished by the citizens, many of them away
for considerable periods, that the retrospective, or shall we call it
the contemplative, spirit had little opportunity. There were some
diaries kept, of course, and the town records, but verj' little his-
torical material was accumulated. Then we find an extensive and
sudden outburst of the historical spirit.

This was led by George C. Woodruff and Payne Kenyon Kil-
bourne, both of whom appear to have begun their researches into
the historj' of the town about 1840. Kilbourne's early interest
began through researches into the Revolutionary history; while
Woodruff's was at first largely concerned with local genealogy; but
both soon extended their interest to cover the whole field of Litch-
field history.

George C. Woodruff was the son of Morris Woodruff and Can-
dace Catlin, he was bom December 1, 1805 and died November 21,
1885. Of him Charles B. Andrews said: "Erect in figure, and
singularly robust; always of the finnest health; always at work
and never seemingly fatigued; nothing in nature so typified him
as an oak which has withstood every vicissitude of storm for a
century of time". (Address before the Litchfield Bar). He served

H(.'X. CiEiiRuK L. \\'(i 'Ii|<', FT

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 211

for several terms in the Legislature and represented this district
in the 37th Congress in Washington. He did a great deal for the
town through his constant public spirit; but he will be remembered
perhaps chiefly on account of his extensive historical studies.
Through these he affected everything that can at any future time
be written about the town. He was astonishingly accurate in his
researches, and the statements he has made, even in a minor way
do not have to be verified, as do nearly all historical statements,
even those of Kilbourna

Payne Kenyon Kilboume was ten years younger, having been
bom in 1815. From 1845 to 1853 he was editor of the Enquirer,
and in 1859 he set up in type his own history. His historical inter-
est was developed at an unusually early age. He had a very agree-
able literary style, but he appears sometimes to have been hasty
in his researches. The two men supplemented one another in an
unusual degree, and between them covered the ground of Litch-
field history, at least down to 1800, so thoroughly that little has
been left for later investigation. Kilboume liked the news value
of his researches. He never misses an anecdote, and there are
passages in his History which are not very relevant to Litchfield,
but which make very good reading. He took his dates where he
found them, without caring seriously if a minor slip did follow.
George C. Woodruff, on the other hand, never passed a fact, which
the best evidence obtainable did not corroborate. No trouble was
too great if it led to increased accuracy.

Woodruff's History dates from 1845. The same year he com
piled his manuscript Genealogical Register of the Inhabitants of
Litchfield, from 1720 to 1800. Twenty years later, he went over
the whole ground again, to check up his results.

It is hard for us, who have been brought to an interest in local
history, to realize what the publication of Woodruff's book meant.
It directed the thoughts of a large number of people to their own
town, with a tide of results of which the present Bi-Centennial is only
a minor phase. Before this time there had been no Centennials. 1820
came and went without a word about the founding of the town. Yet
within a year of 1845, fruits were already appearing, in the Marsh-
Buel picnic. The families of two of the leading founders of the Town,
John Marsh and John Buel, were very numerous. As to the Buels
it is enough to quote from the tomb- stone in the West Cemetery,
on the grave of Mrs. John Buel: "She died Nov. 4, 1768, aged 90;
having had 13 children, 101 grand-children, 247 great-grand- children,
and 49 great-great-grand children; total 410. 336 survived her".

A story is told of the number and prominence of these two fami-
lies in connection with the old grist-mill at the foot of East Hill.
The miller used to call any stranger who same to the Mill, Mr.
Marsh; if surprise was manifested he would correct himself and
say Buel, and seldom made a mistake.

212 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

The reunion of the two families was held at the grove on the
north east end of Bantam Lake, on September 3, 1846. A chart,
showing the complete genealogies of the two families was prepared
by George C Woodruff, and a Historical address was read by Origen
Storrs Seymour. The account of the day is given in the Litchfield
Republican, September 10, 1846, while interesting reminiscences of
it were given in the Enquirer for November 1, 1906, by the Rev.
Storrs O. Seymour, D.D. A register of those present on the day was
kept by Mr. Woodruff, which shows 581 names of descendants, and
doubtless some others had to leave without being registered.

Of the Buel family, Capt. Salmon Buel may be mentioned here,
as he lived to be over 100 years old. He celebrated his hundredth
birthday on Sunday, June 9, 1867, by attending service at the Con-
gregational Church, the large congregation rising as he entered,
then uniting in singing the doxology to Old Hundred, after which
was read the ninety-first Psalm.

In 1845, was held also the Centennial of St. Michael's Church,
a historical Sermon being preach e<l by Rev. Isaac Jones. This was
printed in pamphlet form, with considerable other historical
material relating to the early years of the church.

Payne Kenyon Kilboume published his first historical work in
1851, a volume of Litchfield Biographies. These are concerned with
the whole County, and only in part with our town; but they show
his pleasant style and foreshadow his great work, the History
of 1859.

In 1851, too, was held the County Centennial, which occu-
pied two days, August 13 and 14. A volume of 212 pages
was published after the celebration, which includes the speeches
and a full account of the ceremonies. The most authoritative of
the addresses was the Historical review of the century by Chief
Justice Samuel Church, LL.D. He was a native of Salisbury, but
became a resident of Litchfield in 1845 and remained here till his
death in the autumn of 1854. His address was a valuable addition
to the growing historical material of the neighborhood, especially
as to the legal lights of the County.

Each of these events stimulated others; the next one being the
Centennial of the North and South Consociations of the Congre-
gational Church, which was held on July 7 and 8, 1852. Here again
there was a historical address, delivered by the Rev. David L.
Parmalee, pastor of Litchfield South Farms.

Four years later, in 1856, the movement culminated in the forma-
tion of the Litchfield County Historical and Antiquarian Society,
which after a while became dormant and then in 1893 was revived
and re-organized as our present Litchfield Historical Society. At
the meeting of organization held in the Court House on April 9,
1856, the Introductory Address was delivered by Gideon H. HoUister,
who was then living in Litchfield and had just published his valuable
History of Connecticut. The first board of officers included Seth

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 213

P. Beers, President; George C. Woodruff, First Vice President; and
Payne Kenyon Kilboume, Secretary.

Seth P. Beers was a native of Woodbury, where he was bom
July 1, 1781. He was a graduate of the Law School He held
many public positions, including that of State's Attorney, and he
served in four sessions of the State L^slature^ of which he was
consecutively Clerk and Speaker. His great service to the State,
however, was as Commissioner of the School Fund, from 1824 to
1849, The School Fund was made up from the sale of the Western
Reserve lands in Ohio, Avhich then belonged to the State of Con-
necticut. Mr. Beers visited these lands, making the journey mainly
by canal. He was a most successful administrator of these funds,
which in his hands were increased from the original amount pro-
duced by the sale of the lands in 1793-95 of $1,200,000. to $2,049,-
482.32. He also increased the revenue of the fund from $72,000. to
$133,000. in round numbers.

"He was a self-made man and, mindful of his own early strug-
gles, aided and encouraged many young men here and elsewhere to
a successful career. Professor Henry A. Beers of Yale is his
grandson". (Book of Days, p. 111). Mr. Beers had the interests
of Litchfield always at heart, and at his death left a legacy to the
Episcopal Churches of Litchfield, Bantam and Milton of $35,000.

The publication of Kilbourne's History in 1859 marks the climax
of this Historical period. It summarized all that had gone before,
and gave final form to what then seemed the completed story of
Litchfield. After the writing of this book, there was nothing left
for others to do but to quote from it. The gathering clouds of
Civil dissension also led men's thoughts away from new researches.
A great amount has been published in the last sixty years about
Litchfield, but it is surprising how much goes back direct to Kil-
bourne. Since the formation of the new Historical Society in
1893, however, a new direction has been given to local research,
and the many able papers read before the Society from time to
time have testified how fruitful the field still is.

After 1859 and before the War, there was celebrated one more
anniversary in Litchfield, the Semi-Centennial of the Litchfield
County Foreign Mission Society, 1861. In the years between the
end of the War and the formation of the Historical Society, the
chief event of this character was the celebration, on July 4, 1876, of
the Centennial of American Independence, on which occasion George
C. Woodruff delivered an admirable review of the period, concerned
chiefly with the share our town had taken in the Revolution. It
was very appropriate that Mr. Woodruff should end, as he had
begun, this first period of the historical study of the town. The
second period includes all the work of the members of the Historical
Society, and is still far from complete. It embraces also valuable
work done by members of other organizations, notably the Mary
Floyd Tallmadge Chapter, D. A. R., and the Litchfield Scientific

214 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Association, which in 1919 was merged with the Historical Society.

In speaking of this period of Litchfield, the name of Origen
Storrs Seymour is constantly in the mind. He did not take an
active part in the historical movement, which we have chosen as
the key-note of the time, beyond delivering the Historical address
at the Marsh and Buel picnic of 1846, but his interest in such
matters was always keen. He was bom in Litchfield, February
9, 1804, was graduated at the LaAv School, was Speaker of the House
of Representatives at Hartford, was a member of the 32nd and 33rd
Congresses in Washington, and was Judge of the Superior Court
of the State for eight years, beginning in 1855. In 1870, he was
chosen Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of Errors, and in
1873 he was chosen Chief Justice, which position he held till he
reached the constitutional limit of age. After 1874, he served on
many judicial and legislative Committees, the most important of
which were the Commission to adjust the boundary line between
this state and New York, and the Commission to simplify the
methods of civil procedure in the state. The last public office which
he held was a seat in the State Legislature, in 1881, the year of his
death, being virtually unanimously elected thereto by his fellow
townsmen. He died on August 12, 1881. He was married to
Lucy M. Woodruff, daughter of Gen. Morris Woodruff, in 1830.

Judge Seymour came to the bar at a time when it was strongly
represented throughout the County. The lawyers here at that
time were Phineas Miner, Seth P. Beers, Asa Bacon, Jabez W.
Huntington, Truman Smith, and David C. Sanford.

There remains a final aspect to be considered in our study of
the changes which passed over Litchfield about the middle of the
last century. This was the Mining craze. It seems to us to-day
as though hardly any place could be found offering less opportunity
for mining than Litchfield, and yet all sorts of undertakings were
launched here. It looks almost as though, the legitimate means
of commercial enterprise having in great part failed with the
centralizing of the manufacturing establishments in the valleys,
the methods of quackery were resorted to in the hope of drawing
some commercial profits from the town. It is fortunate that
most of these schemes were undertaken by outsiders. It was at
any rate appropriate that one of these strange speculations should
have been launched by the great American circus man, P. T. Bar-
num. He purchased a farm in the Pitch about 1848, together
with many mining rights, and b^an to dig for copper. Two shafts
were sunk, besides $10,000,, or so Barnum claimed, when the opera-
tions failed, and the creditors took over the property. In 1902,
Thomas A. Edison sent two mining experts to look at the site, but
they were wiser than Bamum and did not recommend operations
here.

John T. Hubbard, who has made a full study of the various
mines and mining ventures in Litchfield, in a lecture before the
Litchfield Scientific Association, December 13, 1905, told of an

(Jhikf [rsTr( k r)Kir,KX Storks Sk.vm(ii-

Judge Lewis B. Woodruff

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 215

earlier effort to obtain mineral in the Pitch. This was the New
England Exploring and Mining Co. It had a capital stock of
$100,000., but never achieved anything beyond running a tunnel into
the hillside south of the Pitch road.

The belief in the value of Litchfield's mineral resources was
hard to down. In Kilboume's History, we find this hopeful spirit,
characteristic of the period, well expressed, p. 249: "In other parts
of the town miners have met with better success. About two miles
north-east of the village, a shaft has been sunk 25 feet in depth, by
Albert Sedgwick and John W. Buell. The vein or lode is 14 feet
in width, composed of pure quartz, with a slight mixture of
felspar. In this vein is found a veiy pure grey Copper Ore, yield-
ing by analysis 79i/^ per cent, of copper. A bevel has been driven
140 feet, which when completed, will intersect the vein at 50 feet
in depth. In this vein are also found great quantities of small
pure garnets, which are as yet too small to be made valuable as
articles of commerce. This vein, bearing nearly a north and south
direction, can be traced for a distance of three miles. Half a mile
from this location, was recently found an old shaft, fifteen feet
deep, which is supposed to have been sunk long before the Revo-
lution. This has been cleaned out, and sunk thirty feet upon a
small vein of iron and copper running together. The quantity
of copper found is not yet sufficient to render the digging profitable,
the mine having been but partially developed.

"The lands of the Connecticut Mining Co., on Prospect Moun-
tain, promise an abundant return for funds invested and labor
performed. Disinterested parties, who have visited these mines,
and others who have analyzed and smelted their copper, nickel, and
silver ores, pronounce the percentage of pure metal to be much
greater than that of some of the celebrated English mines. The
enterprise in this company deserves and will receive a rich reward".
Surely no prospectus could yield much better promise than this
fonnal statement of Kilboume. Judge Hubbard adds, however,
"As 10 per cent, is a paying ore, it is unfortunate that Mssrs. Sedg-
wick and Buell did not mine more of their 791/2 per cent. ore".

Another venture of these two enterprising men carried them to
the land now owned by the Connecticut Junior Republic, where
they sank a shaft 45 feet deep in the woods west of the buildings.
Nothing was found in the shaft beyond Iron pyrites.

Various companies have been incorporated to do mining in
the town, chiefly on Prospect, but it is not worth the space to say
much about them. Yet one likes to linger on such possibilities
as The American Mining Co., with a capital stock of $100,000.,
for its Litchfield mine, this company being located at Windsor,
Vermont, in 1850. Then there was the Litchfield County Mining
and Quarrying Co., incorporated by the state Legislature in 1860,
with a modest capital of $300,000.

2i6 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

In 1860 also the Connecticut Mining Co., obtained a very favor-
able charter from the Legislature. They bought two mining rights
on Prospect Mountain and issued $200,000 of stock, much of which
was successfully placed in PhiladeljAia, This was the company
of which Kilboume thought so well. Later the stock was increased
by another $200,000; buildings on the Mountain were constructed;
and offices opened in the present brick building of Woodruff and
Woodruff. In a prospectus, the promoters compared the mines to
Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp. But quarrels arose within the
company, as the monies raised were apparently not all put into the
mines. To-day nothing remains to show, but a rather deep mud-
hole.

In 1864, the Mckel Mining and Smelting Co., was organized
under the laws of the State of New York, with a capital of
$600,000. They purchased the rights to mine on the west slope of
Prospect Mountain, and evidently were concerned with actual min-
ing rather than with the sale of stock. Some nickel was indeed
taken out of the mountain, and it is said that it was sold to the
Government and used to make the nickel cents which were in cir-
culation before the nickel five-cent piece was placed in use. Event-
ually, the venture shared the fate of the other Litchfield mines.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE CIVIL WAK.

The changes which we have traced in the development of Litch-
field, were never more marked than in the contrast between the
days of the Revolution and those of the Civil War. In both wars
Litchfield gave of her best; but the martyrdoms of the Prison Ship
in the Revolution were only one side of the picture; there were
also the romantic adventures of Col. Tallmadge, the signing of the
Declaration of Independence by the elder Wolcott, the melting of
the bullets, the capture of Ticonderoga by Litchfield-bom Ethan
Allen, the stores in the village streets, the passing of troops on
their dapple greys, and of long munition trains. It was a

period of suspense and excitement, but the excitement was always
stimulating. In the Civil War, there was little but the sus-
pense, Litchfield was too far from the seat of war to be directly
involved, and the young men, whom she sent in hundreds as they
were called for, fought and died without the glory of any historic
personal achiev«nent. Their names are treasured as heroes on
our monuments in the Center and in Northfield; but they do not
appear in the histories. The service was all the greater because
it was so inconspicuous, just a unit in the vast operations of
Oeneral Grant.

In the Revolution, Litchfield had sent 504 men into service,
while in the Civil War our Honor Roll only includes 280 names,
besides 44 men who enlisted and yielded to the temptation so uni-
versal in this particular war and deserted. The difference in
numbers is partly accounted for by the greater population of Litch-
field in the Revolution, when our territory included an extra thous-
and inhabitants in South Farms; it is also partly accounted for
by the inclusion in the Civil War Roll only of the men who actually
were residents of Litchfield w^hen they enlisted, while the Revolu-
tionary Roll includes also those who were connected with the Town
before the War or afterwards.

It is not possible to estimate how many Litchfield men died in
the Revolution. We know that, out of 36 men taken prisoners at
Fort Washington, only six survived, but probably this was the
only engagement where large losses followed. In the Civil War,
approximately 77 men died in the service, from wounds, disease or
other causes. Of these 52 names are on our monument, and the
remaining 25 have been obtained from the Record of Connecticut
Men in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, published by the author-
ity of the General Assembly, 1889. The proportion of deaths

2i8 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

among the Litchfield men was therefore veiy high, and testifies to
their gallant action.

From the declaration of War, enlistments began from the
Town; but it was not till after the close of General ^McClellan's
disastrous Peninsula Campaign in 1SG2, when President Lincoln
issued his memorable call for 300,000 more men, that a concerted
effort was made here or elsewhere to stimulate enlistment on a
large scale.

Appropriations to cover supplies for all volunteers and sup-
port for their families, when needed, were made by the Town from
the earliest dates of the War. The first appropriation made was
of $5,000. on May 2, 1801. This was to be expended according to
the judgment of a Conmiittee consisting of Jason WTiiting, William
F. Baldwin and Philip S. Beebe. On November 23, 18G1, a Town
Meeting was held to instruct this Committee more in detail, and
it was voted to give each volunteer a bonus of $7. at the time of his
being mustered in. On January 20, 18(>2, it Avas voted to continue
payments for the support of soldiers' families, subject to a refund
from the State.

Then, on July 3, 18G2, came the Proclamation of Governor
Buckingham, urging the State of Connecticut to raise a minimum
of seven new Raiments. The response of Litchfield County was an
entire Regiment, of which w^e shall speak at length presently.

Another result of the Proclamation was the immediate increase^
at a Tow^n Meeting on July 25, 1862, in the Bounty for each volun-
teer from $7. to $100. The payment of these bounties upon enlist-
ment caused some men to volunteer for no purpose beyond obtain-
ing the bounty, and was one of the causes, though only one, of the
many desertions throughout the army, of which it has already been
seen that Litchfield was also a victim.

Besides the call for 300,000 men for three years or the dura-
tion of the War, President Lincoln now made another call for
300,000 men for nine months' service. To meet this call, the Litch-
field bounty was increased at a Town Meeting on September 8, 1862,
to $200. for each volunteer, previous volunteers receiving the differ-
ence betw^een this sum and their former bounties.

On March 3, 1863, Congress passed the Conscription Law, assign-
ing to Litchfield a quota of 40 men. At a Town Meeting, July 25,
1863, it was voted to appropriate and borrow the sum of $12,000.,
and to pay $300. towards each man who volunteered or was drafted
to fill this quota of 40 men. This was America's first experience
with the draft law, and it was not popular. ''Great, strapping
men, who before the war had always boasted of their bodily puis-
sance, and who were never suspected, before or since, of having any
other disease than a rush of pusillanimity to the heart, came
limping and hobbling into town, and with touching earnestness
inquired for the office of Dr. Beckwith, who was dealing out cer-
tificates of exemption from military duty to the mob that day and

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 219

night besieged his doors". (Vaill, Nineteenth Connecticut Volun-
teers, p. 15). The provision that substitutes could be provided
by dieted men, under certain restrictions, does not require detailed
explanation here.

Another quota of 60 men was called for from the town, as a
part of President Lincoln's call in January 1864 for 500,000 men;
and again in November 40 men were called for. These appear to
have been the last men raised by the draft in Litchfield, though
volunteers were at all times encouraged, though not as generously
as before, owing probably to the fact that the draft machinery
greatly facilitated obtaining the necessary men. The payments
voted at different times to different groups of men were as follows:
Jan. 18, 1864: $50.; Feb. 18, 1864: $80.; March 28, 1864: $100.;
Aug. 1, 1864: $500.; and Nov. 22, 1864: $150. At the close of the
War, the injustice of such varied bounties was recognized, and
on July 8, 1864, it was voted to pay to each Litchfield soldier or his
family, excepting of course the deserters, a further sum wherever
necessary to bring the bounties received up to a minimum of $200.
This vote, however, was repealed at a special Town Meeting called
for the purpose on August 5, 1865 and we do not find that any
further effort was made to equalize the bounties. The total cost
of all the payments was upwards of $50,000.00; some part of which
was repaid by the Government, under the Conscription Law. The
net cost to the Town, of the payments and bounties, was in the
neighborhood of $31,000.00.

We are fortunate in having two histories of the Litchfield
County Regiment. One was written soon after the War by

Theodore F. Vaill, who was Adjutant of the B^iment, and pub-
lished by him in 1868: History of the Second Connecticut Volun-
teer Heavy Artillery; Originally the Nineteenth Connecticut Volun-
teers. It is a volume of 366 pages, and is considered one of the
most accurate of the regimental histories of the war. It is now
out of print and exceedingly rare; we have heard of only three
copies being preserved in the town of Litchfield. It was therefore
appropriate for the Litchfield County University Club to bring out
a new history by Dudley Landon Vaill, a son of Adjutant Vaill,
entitled The County Regiment, 1908. This has liberal quotations
from the earlier book, and puts the material into modern form.
We quote the following account of the formation of the Regiment
from the volume of Adjutant Vaill, pp. 9-16:

"On the 22nd of July, 1862, the people of 'Mountain County' gave
authoritative expression of their spirit and purpose in a County
Convention at Litchfield, at which resolutions were unanimous y
passed declaring that an entire regiment should be raised within the
county, and urging the several towns to offer a bounty of $100. to
each volunteer. The Convention also unanimously recommended Lev-
erett W. Wessells for the Colonelcy, and requested the Grovemor to
rendezvous the new regiment at Litchfield. The project of raising

220 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

the Nineteenth, thus fairly set on foot, was poshed forward with the
utmost vigor. The offer of a commission to anyone who should enlist
forty men proved a great incentive to effort, and every young man
who contemplated enlisting was straightway beset with a persistent
horde of rival drummers, each armed with a persuasive tongue and
a marvelous list of inducements. Nine companies were soon filled
to the maximum, and some of them had several to spare. Colonel
Wessells received his commission on July 25, and on August 13
issued a circular directing all officers recruiting for the Nineteenth
Connecticut Volunteers to bring their squads into camp at Litch-
field on August 19 or as soon thereafter as practicable.

"On the appointed day the Litchfield Company assembled at the
Town Hall. The men who composed it arranged themselves in two
rows, each man standing so very erect that his spine described an
inward curve painful both to himself and the spectator; and having
by much tuition been able to master the evolution known as 'right
face*, the procession proudly moved with Captain Bissell at its head,
to Camp Dutton, on Chestnut Hill, so named in honor of Lieutenant
Henry M. Dutton, of the Fifth Connecticut Volunteers, who had
fallen at Cedar Mountain only ten days before. Upon arriving, they
found a supply of bell-shaped tents awaiting them, which were soon
pitched in regular order, under the supervision of Luman Wadhams,
who had seen service in the Eighth; and before night the dwellers
in the surrounding country, and far away on the hills, were turning
their eyes towards the snow-white canvas that marked the first and
only military encampment that had been seen within their borders
since ancient times. . . .

"On August 21, seven Companies with nearly seven hundred men
marched into Litchfield, and after halting for refreshments at the
Town Hall, where the ever patriotic ladies had lavishly provided
for their entertainment, proceeded to camp . . . Company I arrived
on the 24th of August; and a few days later the commandants of
the nine Companies were each required to furnish a quota for the
formation of a tenth Company, (K), which was thus made up of
recruits from 25 different towns. And so the Nineteenth was
encamped. In order to raise it Litchfield County had given up
the flower of her youth, the pride and hope of hundreds of her
families; and they had by no means enlisted to fight for a superior
class of men at home. There was no superior class at home. In
moral qualities, in social worth, in every civil relation, they were
the best that Connecticut had to give. More than fifty of the rank
and file of the raiment subsequently found their way to commissions,
and at least a hundred more proved themselves not one whit less
competent or worthy to wear sash and saber if it had been their
fortune. It was the intelligent obedience, the soldierly bearing, the
self respect, the faithfulness, the wounds and blood of the enlisted
men of the Nineteenth Infantry, afterwards the Second Artillery,
that averted defeat or secured victory for the cause of the Union

I )\\'ic, III (.'. K 11 imruN

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 22t

upon more than one desperate field, and that purchased stars for
more than one pair of shoulders.

"Camp Button was a beautiful spot, but no place for a raiment
to learn its hard and ugly trade. Fond mothers and aunts raked
the position with a galling and incessant fire of doughnuts, apples,,
butter, pies, cheese, honey, and other dainties not conducive to the
suppression of the rebellion, and citizens thronged the streets and
environs from morning till night. Lieutenant Colonel Kellogg was
impatient at this state of things, and well he might be. The actual
command had devolved on him from the first. Colonel Wessells being
occupied with matters appertaining to the organization and outfit of
the regiment, and he feared lest he should be called into fight with
the men all innocent and raw as they were, for Lee was in Mary-
land, and the rumbling of the storm that shortly afterward burst at
Antietam and Sharpsburg could plainly be heard. . . .

'On the 10th of September the regiment marched to the village
to receive an elegant stand of colors from Mrs. William Curtis
Noyes and to listen to a presentation address by her husband, then
in the zenith of his power and fame. On the 11th, the regiment
was mustered, by Lieutenant Watson Webb, into the sers'ice of the
United States and on the 15th, having formed in line, and given
three parting cheers for Camp Button, the long and firmly treading
battalion, consisting of 889 officers and men, moved to Litchfield Sta-
tion where a train of 23 cars stood ready to take them to New
York. The deep interest everywhere felt in the Mountain County
Regiment was attested by crowds of people at the stations and all
along the railway and by white handkerchiefs and white hands that
waived us a farewell and a blessing from window and verandah
and hilltop. ..."

Leverett W. Wessells, the first Colonel of the Nineteenth, was
born in Litchfield, July 28, 1819. He enlisted on July 25, 1862, and
was commissioned Colonel on the same day. He held the following
offices: Colonel commanding Second Brigade, Befense of Washing-
ton, South of the Potomac, and was honorably discharged September
15, 1863, at Washington, B. C, resigning by reason of ill-health. He
was appointed Provost Marshall of the Fourth Bistrict of Con-
necticut, February 9, 1864, and was finally discharged October 5,
1865, by reason of the ending of the War. He died April 4, 1895, at
Dover, Bel. His brother. General Henry W. Wessells, was also a
distinguished soldier, having served in the Mexican War, with the
rank of Major. In the Civil War, he was Major of the Sixth Con-
necticut Infantry, 1861; Colonel, Eighth Regiment Kansas Volun-
teers, 1861; Brigadier €reneral of Volunteers, 1862; and Brigadiei*
General, U. S. A., March 13, 1865; he retired from the military ser-
vice on January 1, 1871.

It is not within the scope of this work to follow the Nineteenth
Regiment completely through its campaigns in active service; but
mention should at least be made of the names of the actions in which

222 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

it took so gallant a part, and the story of Cold Harbor must be
told more in full.

"For more than a year and a half the regiment was numbered
among the defenders of the Capital, removing after a few months
from the immediate neighborhood of Alexandria and being stationed
among the different forts and redoubts which formed the line of
defence south of the Potomac. ... It was in November 1863, that the
War Department orders were issued changing the Nineteenth
Infantry to a regiment of heavy artillery, which Governor Bucking-
ham denominated the Second Connecticut. Artillery drill had for
some time been part of its work, and the general efficiency and good
record of the regiment in all particulars was responsible for the
change, which was a welcome one, as the Artillery was considered a
very desirable branch of the service, and the increase in size gave
prospects of speedier promotion". (Dudley Vaill, pp. 19, 21).

On May 17, 1864, the summons came, which the Second Heavy
Artillery had almost ceased to expect, after its long period of
immunity.

"The preceding two weeks had been among the most eventful
of the war. They had seen the crossing of the Rapidan by Grant
on the 4th, and the terrible battles for days following in the Wilder
ness and at Spottsylvania, depleting the army by such enormous
losses as even this war had hardly seen before. Heavy reinforce^
ments were demanded and sent forward from all branches of the
service; in the emergency this artillery regiment was summoned to
fight as infantry, and so served until the end of the conflict, though
for a long time with a hope, which survived many disappointments,
of being assigned to its proper work with the heavy guns". (Dudley
Yaill, p. 25).

When the regiment reached the front. Grant was in full march
towards Richmond, and for a week the regiment was pnt through
a series of forced marches which tried the oldest veterans who were
in the same corps and which to the inexperienced Second Artillery
was almost beyond endurance. At first they were overburdened
Avith their baggage, but they soon threw down by the roadside every-
thing that could be spared and much that should not have been
spared. Over $20,000. worth of the private property of the men was
thrown aside, besides great quantities of government rations. With-
out proper food, foot-sore, and without sleep, the regiment struggled
on, sometimes getting its only nourishment from the dry corn picked
up by the way and eaten raw.

The first contact with the enemy came at a skirmish at Jericho
Ford, on the North Anna River, on May 24, resulting in the death
of one man and the wounding of three other;s.

On May 31, the regiment reached Cold Harbor. Exhausted with
fatigue, they slept on the ground where they stopped, careless of the
evident preparations for battle which General Grant was obviously
nmking, by the conc(Mitration of great bodies of men. Their stupor

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 223

was such, that even when they were told of the expected engagement
by their commander, Colonel Kellogg of New Hartford, they were
unable to understand his meaning. It was happy for them, per-
haps, that this was the case, for had they known what was in store
for them on the morrow even their short rest must have been denied
theuL

At five o'clock in the afternoon of June 1, 1864, the untried
Second Connecticut Heavy Artillery, moving in three battalions of
four companies each, was marched out of the breast- works to help
in dislodging the enemy from their entrenched positions at Cold
Harbor. The first battalion, including Company A, the Litchfield
company, was sent across an open field, with the colors in the
centre, and easily passed the first line of rifle pits, which was
abandoned at its approach. The confederate soldiers had made a
barrier of pines and saplings in front of their main line of breast-
works, Avhich proved practically impassable. As the battalion came
up to it, unsupported on either side, the enemy's musketry opened.
The fire passed overhead, and they fell to the ground to avoid further
volleys. ''Several men were struck, but not a large number. It
is more than probable that if there had been no other than this front
fire, the rebel breastworks would have been ours, notwithstanding
the pine boughs. But at that moment a long line of rebels on our
left, having nothing in their own front to engage their attention,
and having unobstructed range on the battalion, opened a fire which
no human valor could withstand, and which no pen can adequately
describe. It was the work of almost a single minute. The air
was filled with sulphurous smoke, and the shrieks and howls of more
than two hundred and fifty mangled men rose above the yells of
triumphant rebels and the roar of their musketry. 'About face',
shouted Colonel Kellogg, but it was his last command. He had
already been struck in the arm, and the words had scarcely passed
his lips when another shot jjierced his head, and he fell dead upon
the interlacing pine boughs. Wild and blind with wounds, bruises,
noise, smoke, and conflicting orders, the men staggered in every
direction, some of them falling upon the very top of the rebel para-
pet, wliere they were completely riddled with bullets, others wander-
ing off into the woods on the right and front, to find their way to
death by starvation at Andersonville, or never to be heard of again".
(Theodore Vaill, p. 63).

The second battalion, behind them, could give no support, for
feuv of shooting right into their own men. There was however no
suggestion of retreat at any point, and, indeed, in a lull in the
firing, several hundred of the enemy came across the parapets and
surreiulered. Through a misunderstanding, the credit of their cap-
ture was given to other units.

As the hours passed through the terrible night, the regiment
held the gi-ound that had been gained. The enemy under cover of
the darkness vacated their breastworks, and when at three o'clock

224 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

in the morning other troops were sent to relieve the Second Regi-
ment, the troops which in ten hours had been converted into veterans
turned over to them the position which was to remain the front
during the rest of the stay until Grant's sudden movement began
against Petersburg.

For twelve days, the regiment was more or less in constant
action, but the fighting was so much less severe than on the fateful
First of June, that it need hardly be mentioned. Indeed that first
engagement was the most serious that the regiment saw at any
time of the war. Its loss in that one night was greater than that
of any other Connecticut regiment in any single battle. "The
record of Cold Harbor, of which all but a very small proportion was
incurred on June 1st, is given as follows : Killed or died of wounds,^
121; wounded, 190; missing, 15; prisoners, 3". (Dudley Vaill, p. 37).
This total of 329 casualties, in a regiment of 1,800 men, fell with
special force on the Litchfield company. Of 33 men who were
killed or di§d from wounds during the whole service of this company,
29 fell at Cold Harbor, all but two on the night of June 1st. The
Litchfield men among these 29 were the foUomng: Corporal Albert
A. Jones ; Lyman J. Smith, Jr. ; Robert Watt ; John Iflfland ; WUlard
H. Parmalee; Almon B. Bradley; Patrick Ryan; Captain Luman
Wadhams (died of wounds) ; Corporal! George Wilson Potter;
Corporal Charles Adams, Jr.; Corporal Apollos C. Morse; Andrew
J. Brooker; Amos H. Stillson.

Other Litchfield men killed the same night, in other companies^
were Michael Bray; John Handel.

On June 12, 1864, the regiment moved to Petersburg, where it
remained until July 9th. For the next two months or more it
took part in the maneuvers under General Sheridan of the Shenan-
doah Valley campaign, having its severest battle at Winchester on
September 19, where its efficient work at a moment of crisis turned
an impending defeat into an important victory. Three days later^
the regiment was sent against the fort on Fisher's Hill, considered
the Gibraltar of the Valley, which they scaled and captured, with
a loss of only four men killed. The enemy were taken completely
by surprise and driven it was thought for all time out of the
Valley.

The confederate General, Early, took advantage of the with-
drawal of Sheridan's forces, to re-occupy Fisher's Hill, and the
Second Connecticut found itself ordered back to Cedar Creek, where
it arrived on October 14th. Five days later, the dramatic battle,
which bears this name, was fought, and again the Second Connecti-
cut had a proud and successful part in it. After an apparent
defeat of the Union forces, which at one moment threatened to
become an irretrievable rout, the tide of the battle turned, and
ended in a complete victory which marked the successful conclusion
of the Shenandoah Valley Campaign.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 225

At Cedar Creek as at Winchester, the regiment had large losses,
but for the Litchfield men they were proportionately much smaller
than in the fateful battle of Cold Harbor. Corporal Franklin M,
Bunnell was wounded at Winchester early in the day, but continued
to fight with his company until just before the close of the battle.
He died six days later at Jarvis Hospital, Baltimore. Corporal
John L. Wilcox was shot at the battle of Cedar Creek in the side
and back. The shot was not found until the third day: when it
was removed a hemorrhage developed and he died on the way
from the Valley to Baltimore, October 28. These were the only
two men from Litchfield in the Litchfield Company who were killed
after the battle of Cold Harbor.

For two months after Cedar Creek, the regiment saw no more
fighting. It was again joined to Grant's army, and on February
5 and 6, 1865, was engaged in the action at Hatcher's Run. Then
came another period of inaction, and then the final engagement,
which began with the attack on Fort Stedman, March 25, and ended
with the capture of Petersburg on April 3, 1865. The Second Con-
necticut afterwards claimed to have been the first regiment to enter
the city, but they did not carry their colors when they marched
against it, and those of another unit were raised above the city.
The same day, the regiment started in pursuit of Lee's army, and
had reached a point close to Appomattox Court House, when the news
reached them of the surrender there on April 9, of all that was left
of Lee's forces to General Grant.

The terrible news of Cold Harbor fell upon the families and
friends of the Litchfield men like a thunderbolt. For months the
letters that came from the South had told only of inaction. Then
suddenly came the news that the regiment was on the march, and
within two weeks the rumor of a great battle was received. It
was impossible to get names or correct particulars. The chief link
with official bureaus was through John H. Hubbard, who was then
Congressman in Washington. He was an ardent administration
man, and Lincoln used to call him Old Connecticut ; but even Wash-
ington could give no sure information, when many of the wounded
were still lying outside the lines. Long afterwards, Mrs. Hubbard
wrote, (Book of Days, p. 87) : "You can have no idea of the intense
anxiety in the days following Cold Harbor. It was the same after
every great battle in which Litchfield troops were engaged. The
telegraph wires had more news than they could carry. It was
impossible to get details. All we knew was, that a terrible battle
had been fought and that a great number were either dead or
wounded. As Mr. Hubbard was Congressman, our house was a
rendezvous for people hoping or fearing for news. They would
often stay till late at night. I particularly remember one woman
from Goshen who waited till eleven o'clock, and then went home,
cheered with the thought that no news was good news. She hart

226 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

just gone home, when we received word that her husband was among
the slain".

And George Kenney wrote, (Book of Days, p. 88) : "Such
funerals as we had in those days! I had the stage line then and,
when the war was over, I brought up from the Naugatuck station
all that were left from a company that went from this town. I
carried them all up in one stage drawn by four horses".

The heaviest toll, proportionately, was taken of the families
who lived in the district west of the center. Here within a small
radius were six farm-houses to which one or more of the men who
had gone to the war were brought back dead. Three sons of the
Wadhams family, who lived in the house west of the road across
Harris Plain, were killed in the space of fourteen days. On May
28, 1864, the Second Connecticut happened to be near the Fourteenth
Connecticut. Captain Lunian Wadhams went to headquarters,
requesting permission to go and see his brother in the latter regi-
ment. It was given. When he returned, the Colonel asked him
if he had found him. "I found he was killed day before yester-
day", was the sad reply. Four days after, Captain Luman Wad-
hams was killed, and both of them died without knowing that their
younger brother, Edward, a Sergeant in the Eighth Connecticut, had
been killed at Fort Darling on May 16.

So in Litchfield, when Deacon Adams had been over to break
the news of the death of one of the brothers, he was on his way back
to the village when he was told that another had fallen.

When the widow of Captain Luman Wadhams learned of her
loss, the desire came to her to go herself to the South and help in
nursing those who were still fated to go through the experience of
her husband, those who were to linger from their wounds for a few
days, and perhaps die when some little care beyond what the doctors
had to give would have saved them. The niunber of nurses was
very restricted, totally inadequate according to the standards of the
present; and it is another source of pride for Litchfield to know
that one of its women went and did such good work for the soldiers.
She joined Sheridan's army at Winchester, where her husband's
regiment had fought in August and where one of the larger field
hospitals was situated. One of the letters which she wrote soon
after her arrival is preserved, and is worth quoting to show the
conditions of the day:

"October 31, 1864. To the Rev. George Richards. Dear Friend:
As you were the means of obtaining for me a place here I thought
I would tell you how I am passing my time in my new home, that
is if a tent can be called a home, and that it can I am sure many
will testify. I reached this place the day after Sheridan's last
battle, the 19th. I found the place in a state of great commotion:
many had, on the news of a repulse, packed up their goods, some
had left, some were running distracted, not knowing what to do
or where to go: but it is of the wounded I must tell you. I reported

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 227

immediately on arriving to the Medical Director, who informed me
I had arrived just in time, as they were expecting fifteen hundred
wounded in a short time. I was sent to the Nineteenth Corps Hos-
pital for a few days, as I was needed more there at that time. I
must tell you of my initiation, I had not slept since leaving Wash-
ington, but you may well guess sleep was far from my thoughts.
The doctor told me to prepare myself with a basin, towel, etc, and
left me with another lady to await the coming of the ambulance
train. Now I think it would be impossible to describe my feelings,
while sitting there waiting. I had thought it over many times at
home before leaving, how I should bear the sight of those poor,
wounded, dying men, and I knew my after efforts depended a great
deal on it. The train came, they brought them in on stretchers,
and placed them on straw beds on the floor of the church, as thick
nearly as they could lie. And I, I went to work, washing first,
feeding next, then the surgeon asked me 'could I dress wounds?' I
told him I would try, and I did. And not until near morning did
I leave those poor, wounded, dying men. I never stopped to ask
myself how I was bearing it, never thought to cry, never felt like
it, I only felt these men were suffering and I must help them, and
I, if I were to go home to-morrow, I should thank God that I had
come, if only for that one night. I had, as you will remember,
taken a few lessons in bandaging at Columbia College Hospital at
Washington before coming, I found that of great service to me.
There was not an arm, head, leg, or any wound even, I shrank from,
however bad it was. There was one poor boy, that had his right
eye entirely shot away, and his left was so filled with blood, dirt
and powder he thought that was gone too, as he told me: 'I am
blind, Lady, blind for my flag*. But by frequent bathing in cold
water he can see a very little. I hope to be able to restore that
eye entirely. His nose is nearly half gone. Another has his left
lung laid entirely bare, you can look in and see the beating and
working of that delicate machinery, but there he lies, unmurmur-
ingly, patiently awaiting his death. Of course many have lost legs,
arms, and some both, some seem almost literally riddled with shot.
I asked one dear boy, covered with wounds, where he was wounded.
He replied: 'All over. Lady', and sure it seemed so; he was hit with
a piece of shell in his head, a horrible gash, then a ball had entered
his left side, passed entirely through his body and had fractured
his right arm. He is now doing well. I might tell of many such
cases, but you will not care to be wearied. Others, apparently
slightly wounded, have since died, many more must. They are
sending them as fast as possible to Martensburg, and then on to
Baltimore. We are crowded here, but I think it would have been
better to have kept them a few days, for the poor boys were so near
gone that forty died on the way to Martensburg, and twenty in the
cars before reaching Harpers' Ferry. They were brought from
Newtown, a distance of eight miles from here and six from Cedar

228 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Creek, and we fed them here without taking them from the ambu-
lances, and they sent them on to Martensburg, making in all 23 miles
without resting. We have better accommodations here than at first ;
I am now at the Sheridan Hospital. It is half mile out from
Winchester on a rise of ground and seems doing finely, many must
die. They have all done for them possible ..."

The men of the western part of town were known as the Flower
of Litchfield, and it was appropriate that one of them should have
given his name to the local Post of the Grand Army of the Republic.
This was Seth F. Plumb. He was killed at Fort Harrison, Va., on
September 29, 1864. He was a member of the Eighth Connecticut,
in the same Company E in which Edward Wadhams was the Cap-
tain. He was a deeply religious man; and was participating with
other members of the regiment in a service of prayer, when the
orders came to charge across an open field upon Fort Harrison. The
Fort was captured, but he was killed in the attack. He always
considered his soldier life as a religious duty for his country. He
was buried at Bermuda Hundred, between the bodies of two young
comrades who like himself had just been promoted for personal
bravery. At the request of his father, his body was later brought
to Litchfield by his friend Joseph H. Vaill, and lies buried in our
West Cemetery.

The Seth F. Plumb Post, No. 80, Department of Connecticut,
was formed in 1884. Its records were kept by Dwight C. Kilbourn,
who was First Lieutenant of Company C in the Second Connecticut.
He was wounded in both arms at the battle of Winchester, Septem-
ber 19, 1864, but was able to rejoin his regiment in three months.
He died at his home in East Litchfield, in 1914, at the age of 77
years. Mr. Kilbourn was by nature a historian; he had the his-
torical sense, as will be testified by all who have read his admirable
Bench and Bar. He wrote many minor works and articles; but
it is not generally known that he also wrote a history of the town.
This had just been completed at the time of the fire of 1886, in which
his law office was burned, together with his large library and the
manuscript of his great work. He afterwards gathered together
a new and valuable library, but he did not re-write the history.

The war records of the individual men, whose names are kept
in proud remembrance on our Honor EoU, cannot be given in detail
here. It was honorable service, performed with ready willingness.
There was little of romance or of the unusual, little that varied
from the hard routine of the soldier's life. We do however read
of one case of a Litchfield boy, Lyman E. Sweet, who captured three
prisoners of the enemy "with a coffee-pot" at the second battle of
Hatcher's Run, but even here we are deprived of the details of this
marvelous exploit!

For Litchfield the real end of the War was on August 1st, 1805,
on which day the soldiers of the Second Regiment and others

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 229

returned from camp. About three hundred of the County Regi-
ment were present. The Triumphal Arch stood on East Street,
near the side of the present Library, making a gateway to Litchfield
as the men arrived from the East Litchfield Station. There was a
parade, and speeches. The whole town was decorated to welcome
the men.

Two monuments have been erected in the Town to the memory
of the men who fell in the Civil War. The one in Northfield is of
red sandstone, and was erected by the citizens of that village directly
after the end of the war, and is said to have been the first of the
Soldiers' Monuments to be completed in the country. The one in
Litchfield stands in the Center Park. It is of white marble, and
bears the names of 52 soldiers, including the 8 names which are on
the Northfield Monument.

CHAPTER XXII.

IMPRESSIONS AND POST-IMPRESSIONS.
BY DR. ARTHUR E. BOSTWICK.

My boyhood was spent in Litchfield until I went to college in
1877. After an absence of many years, with but occasional visits,
I returned about 1911 as a householder and a member of the sum-
mer colony. I am therefore in the unusual position of being able
to describe the Litchfield of the early 70's as seen through a boy's
eyes, and to note the changes that have occurred in our town between
1870 and 1920, without having my impressions dimmed by too great
a familiarity with the intervening years. Changes, which have
come so gradually as to be almost unnoticed by the permanent resi-
dents of Litchfield, present their cumulative effect to the returned
absentee with a startling reality. Though these changes may be
relatively small, who can tell but that the flight of fifty years may
one day be seen to have had its importance in the great historical
picture of our American civilization? Part of my notes on this
head have already been used by me in a lecture before the Litch-
field Historical Society on "Changing Litchfield", delivered on
September 1, 1914, and reported in the Enquirer of the following
day.

Litchfield in the early 70's was a pretty good place for a boy
to grow up in. Here lived an unusually large number of persons,
of all ages and degrees, whom it was stimulating to know. Among
those who impressed themselves early on my boyish memory, were
George C. Woodruff and his wife, the latter known to her numerous
band of relatives and to very many others as "Aunt Sophy". Greorge
C, as he was usually called, (the family name went without saying),
was a lawyer and a gentleman of the old school: the perfect incar-
nation of stem Puritan justice and uprightness, a terror to evil-
doers, forbidding sometimes even to the just, but full of humor and
kindliness under his shell. I stood in awe of the stern exterior and
I was half terrified and half scandalized when my mother, who had
known him as a good friend, many years before I was born, used
to venture upon persiflage in conversation with him. I well recol-
lect a controversy on the subject of Contentment, which was renewed
between them at each casual meeting. Stopping her in the street,
Mr. Woodruff would fix her with his eye and quote with a sternness
that almost withered me where I stood: "Contentment with Godli-
ness is great gain". To which my mother rejoined: "Yes, and
*to die is gain'; and so Contentment is only a living death!" All

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 231

of which gave, and still gives, me food for thought I have always
thought that her husband's mask of sternness worried Aunt Sophy
a Jittle. She knew him as he was, and she would fain have had
others do likewise, — especially boys of ten.

Another of the Litchfield great ones of this era was Origen S.
Seymour, afterwards Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court.
Judge Seymour's eyesight had been weak from boyhood and the
completion of his college course was dependent on the services of a
companion to read his lessons to him. In later life, on the Bench
or elsewhere, he always sat with closed eyes when listening intently.
This sometimes gave rise to misunderstanding, as when a newly
inducted rector of St. Michael's remarked, after his first sermon,
that Judge Seymour seemed to have enjoyed it, as he was sound
asleep all the time! As a matter of fact the Judge could probably
have reproduced that sermon, if required, with a good deal more
fidelity than it deserved. Judge Seymour was kind to boys, and
I remember several conversations with him in his study at the South
Street house. He told me once how he went to New Haven on
horseback, to pass his Yale entrance examination. He and a com-
panion had but one horse between them, and used the method of
'•ride and tie", by which one rode ahead for a specified distance and
the other followed on foot; having covered the distance agreed
upon, the first tied the horse to a tree and himself proceeded to
walk; when the second reached the horse he mounted, overtook his
companion, rode ahead of him, tied the horse in turn, and so matters
went until the end of the journey. It was effective and economical,
but somewhat unsociable, it always seemed to me.

When retired for age. Judge Seymour was Chief Justice of the
State Supreme Court of Errors. We have had two Litchfield Chief
Justices in my day, the other being Governor Charles B. Andrews,
our only Governor since the days of the Wolcotts.

Edwin McNeill was the first approach to anything like a
financial magnate that our little town had ever known. A farmer's
boy, of that dour but extremely competent Scotch strain that has
left its impress all over our land, he became an eminent civU
engineer, amassed what was then a fortune, and failing in health
returned to live on Litchfield Hill. He bought from Gideon H.
HoUister the house on North Street now owned by Frederick Dem-
ing and proceeded to remodel it on a scale of luxury then unheard
of, including a billiard-room, a hot-air furnace, and running water.
He was a force in Litchfield while he lived, and his influence upon
it persists to this day. Almost alone he pushed through the direct
railway connection with New York against great difficulties.

I do not recollect anyone who ever occupied precisely the same
relation to a town as that held during my boyhood and for many
years afterward by J. Deming Perkins. Wealthy patrons are not
unknown to New England towns, but Mr. Perkins' services to
Litchfield were not precisely of this type. He was continually
giving, in no spectacular way, things that he knew by observation

232 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

were needed by the village and unlikely to be acquired by it through
public channels. This was the more welcome at that time because
the old village organization had fallen into abeyance and had not
been revived in its present borough form. There was no way in
which Litchfield could raise money by taxation, except as a town-
ship; and the residents of Bantam, Milton and Northfield were not
at all likely to contribute to the betterment of Litchfield village.
So, when Litchfield streets were dark, and lanterns on the elms did
not seem to fill the bill, Mr. Perkins ordered lamp-posts from New
York, set them up on the conspicuous comers around the Green
and paid a man to fill and light the lamps until the Village Improve-
ment Society took the job from his hands. He became the Presi-
dent of the V. I. S., and was its good genius and constant adviser.
I well remember how proudly he used to tell us that the color of
the new lamp-posts, white with green trimmings, was precisely that
of the posts on Fourth Avenue in New York, the first metropolitan
thoroughfare that the countryman used to see when he issued in
wonderment from the portals of the old New Haven station at
27th Street, where the Madison Square Garden now stands.

When a badly frayed banner ceased to disgrace our hundred-
foot mast on the Green and was replaced by a bright new one, we
did not need to ask who had bought and paid for it. And it was
under his auspices that the V. I. S. raised the money to build tar
pavements over the town, setting a fashion that still persists. The
Enquirer used to comment proudly every week on the fact that "the
tar rolls steadily westward", or northward or southward, as the
case might be. The money was raised, not by a "drive", which
would have "driven" most of us out of town, but by a series of enter-
tainments of all possible kinds. In organizing these, Mr. Perkins
was active and invaluable, and his experience was always available
When we wanted a new stage curtain, he sent out and bought strips
of cloth in claret and buff and had them assembled in exact imita-
tion of a Vienna concert-hall curtain. When anything was to be
done that required money, experience, judgment or hard work, his
was the name first in our minds, and he never failed us. Of Mr.
Perkins' other and great services to Litchfield this is not the place
to speak ; but the fact that he was the first president of the Shepaug
Kailroad reminds me that I must not overlook the great part that
this institution played in our lives in the 70'a

The history of almost every railroad is worth writing. Will
that of the Shepaug ever be set down? From start to finish it
was a fight. When Edwin McNeill was making the preliminary
surveys, he was confronted time and again by angry farmers who
objected to the proceedings as trespass. When it comes to a con-
sciousness of the rights of land proprietorship, the average Con-
necticut farmer makes an English Duke look "like thirty cents".
On one occasion the opposing farmer bore a shot-gun, and threat-
ened to use it ; Mr. McNeill calmly vaulted the fence, saying : "Come
on boys; I have smelt powder before!" The farmer did not shoot.

Hox. T. Df.mint; Pkrkixs

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 233

Later came the fight to induce the towns along the route to subscribe
for the stock. This raged in the town meetings and is best described
in John D. Champliii's Chronicles of Sirrom, (Morris spelled back-
ward), first printed anonymously in the Sentinel, of which Champ-
lin was then editor. As a piece of semi-political pamphleteering,
this takes high rank.

But we boys did not really get into the game until actual con-
struction work began at our end of the line. Recognizing the value
of the stimulation of interest by visualization, Mr. Perkins even
had rails teamed over from East Litchfield, so that they could be
laid here before the arrival of the outfit from Hawleyville. We
were interested spectators of the work from the early day when
Miss Lucretia Deming's ice-house was split in two by the work-
men's picks, to the triumphant hour when the whistle announcing
the arrival of the Waramaug at the foot of West Hill brought out
our whole population. It will be remembered that the names of our
three locomotives: Shepaug, Waramaug, and Weantinaug, moved a
jealous neighboring sheet to remark, that they att^r-ured well for the
future.

Then began the fun for us boys. Things were new and rules
were slack, and we rode on the engines of construction trains as
much as we pleased. I even remember seeing Eph Mower standing
at the throttle upon occasion. Of course we knew intimately all
conductors, brakemen, engineers and firemen. What Litchfield boy
was not proud to number among his friends the redoubtable Al
Paul? Al was a Welshman, and worth knowing. If Roosevelt
shook hands habitually Avith his faithful engineer and fireman, we
went him one better; we adored ours, they were as heroes and demi-
gods to us. Putting up the hand brakes, there were no air brakes
then, became a standard sport with us. All this was educational,
although if we had suspected that it was, doubtless we should have
turned to something else.

In my boyhood, Litchfield had lately been a purely American
community, by which I mean one inhabited almost solely by families
of English descent. There were only half a dozen negroes or so,
and the Irish had only recently begun to come in. I remember no
other exotic races. This accounts for the fact that individual mem-
bers of these two races play a large part in my memories. The
negroes were not employed as house servants, or in general outdoor
work about houses. They were not coachmen or gardeners, but
were manual laborers on outside jobs. In the South, black and
white boys play freely together. What the Southerner is particular
about is not social contact, but social status. The latter did not
worry us, but there were only two negro boys, as I recollect, who
associated with us. One was Charles Nicholas Doute, a West
Indian, brought here as a servant by the McNeills. His French
accent and queer ways amused us, and caused him to be graded in
a class by hunself. The other was Sam Row&, the son of Solomon
Rowe, sexton of St. ^Michael's Church. The Rowes were altogether

234 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

a notable family. Their hospitality was without stint, and their
little shack, already bursting with the Rowe family, was warranted
to hold as many guests as applied for admission. Sol was a wit.
When a certain young rector, who had business interests in New
York, used to absent himself from his duties, so frequently as to
cause remark, Sol said, "I can always tell when Mr. X. is going
to be away, for the Sunday before he always preaches from the text :
'It is expedient that I should leave you' ".

The Eowes, I believe, had been Northern for some generations.
A great contrast were the Elliots, who came from the South with
Jack, the head of the family, after the Civil War. These were
n^roes of the real Virginia plantation variety. Jack presided at
the rear of the Congregational organ, during the pastorate of the
Rev. Mr. Elliot, which led some wit to remark that there was an
Elliot blowing at each end of the Church.

About the only other colored families in town were the Harri-
sons and the Jacksons, and I can pass over neither. The Jacksons
have already been mentioned as the last family whose ancestor had
been a Litchfield slave. As known to me, they were Aunt Lucy
and Crazy Caroline. The latter was really out of her mind and
used to parade the streets with corn-silk curls and a small branch
for a parasol. Aunt Lucy was a colored Mrs. Partington. On
being asked once where she was going, she replied: "Oh, just around
the corner to explode". On another occasion she expressed her
pleasure on the receipt of some gift by remarking: "I am not only
gratified, but highly mollified". Meeting on the street Gideon H.
HoUister, who had just been appointed to the Haytian mission by
President Johnson, she thus addressed him: "Well, Mr. HoUister!
I hear you've been appointed minister to Hayti! Well, I hope
you'll preach to 'em, and convert 'em all!" To one who inquired if
she were comfortably situated, she replied: "I have everything that
heart could wish in full bloom, and some in maturity!"

As for the Harrisons, they were brothers, Miles and Epaphro-
ditus, Paiphe for short. Paiphe was a great bulky, lumbering
giant, in demand where brute strength was required, and ready to
shout out rough badinage at any boy who would take it. If any-
one should be surprised at this extended treatment of the so-calletl
menial classes, I would remind him that these classes bulk very
large in the experience of children. In a village like Litchfield, the
boys are acquainted with all the cooks and all the hired men, and
many of them, to be sure, are well worth knowing.

As I have said, we were just beginning to know the Irish. They
lived in a colony at the foot of East Hill, then known as Lavinville;
for the Lavin famUy formed no inconsiderable part of it, and the
family was one of standing and influence. Patrick Lavin, the head
of it, had begun, many years before in Ireland, his education for
the priesthood. I know not why or how it was interrupted, but
it was an awesome thing for a boy to have a man making his
garden, who had studied Latin.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 235

At this time the Irish in Litchfield were all domestic servants
and day laborers. Their advance, here and elsewhere, in a single
generation, is one of the most notable changes in our country with
which I am familiar. I never knew a finer lady in temperament
and manners than old Mrs. Lavin. She was the soul of considerate
politeness. On one occasion I had achieved, in a course of lessons
in drawing, what I considered a masterpiece in the form of a
picture of a barrel, with orthodox perspective and shading. I ran
to show my result to Mrs. Lavin, who was washing clothes. She
dried her hands, took the drawing and admired it for some time.
Then she said: "My, ray! but isn't it fine! Sure, it's a church, isn't
it?" Now, the drawing was really not so bad; but Mrs. Lavin's
eyesight was failing. I have always loved her for her desire to
say the right thing.

Two generations made a difference. Possibly also saying the
right thing, but from a different standpoint and in a different way,
Mrs. Lavin's little granddaughter, carving knife in hand, chased
Charlie Belden, who had said "shoo" to the family rooster, down
East Street, shouting the while this bloody threat: "I'll cut the
one head off ye!" That suggestion of a possible cranial plurality
always amused me.

Our colored Mrs. Partington, described above, was not our only
one. Decidedly "male, white and 21", was Ed Peck, who filled, for
what now seems to have been a large part of my boyhood, the office
of jailer in Litchfield. Huge of frame, kindly of speech, popular
with one and all, Ed could rarely say exactly what he meant. Put
forward to utter a few words of thanks, when a delegation, of
which he was a member, had been entertained at lunch, he said
briefly: "Gentlemen; I thank you very kindly for your handsome
coalition". And in naiTating his part in the contribution of a
fund for some suffering brother or sister, he went on: "So I
mounted down off my horse and put in my poor pitiless mite".

I was particularly interested in our two newspapers. In the
first place I have always been intrigued by print, and secondly I
was intimate with both editors. George A. Hickox, of the Enquirer,
was my next door neighbor, and John D. Champlin Jr., of the
Sentinel, was my first cousin. He lived at the Mansion House, and
his sanctum there was the literary Mecca of my early years. The
Enquirer and the Sentinel carried a line of good-humored political
badinage in those days that was rather better than some modem
equivalents. The Sentinel had several editors after Champlin went
to New York, and it finally passed out; but the Enquirer lives on
forever. Mr. Hickox made it a valuable sheet in a literary way.
His editorials and book reviews would have done credit to The
Nation; but the average rural subscriber, doubtless, did not know
that ; and as an original War-Democrat his post-war Eepublicanism
was regarded by some as not over stalwart. I well remember a
review of Fronde's Caesar that was a masterpiece; but all he got
for it was the following skit from the Winsted Herald: "The Litch-

236 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

field Enquirer prints a two-column obituary of the late Julius
Caesar. The deceased was much thought of in Litchfield". I
belie\'^e that my proximity to Mr. and Mrs. Hickox, as a boy, was
rather more important to me, from a purely educational point of
view, than the fact that I afterward went to college. The Hickoxes
were not original Litchfielders. Mr. Hickox was from Washington,
and his wife was a South Carolinian. For me the intellectual
center of Litchfield was in their house, next to ours on East Street,
still owned by their daughter. There one could hear discussed
intelligently science, religion, literature and politics. Mr. Hickox
was also a fine musician; and we had at that time a very creditable
musical ensemble: Dr. William Deming, first violin; Dr. Gates,
viola; Mr. Hickox, 'cello; Julius Deming, double bass; to which
were oftan added brass and wood-winds, as represented by flute and
comet. The playing of these musicians went far to form our
musical taste.

Dr. Howard E. Gates was also organist of St. Michael's. He
frequently went into the church to practice, and as he was prone to
forget his key, he left a window unfastened that he might use it as
an emergency entrance. One afternoon he proceeded to enter the
church in this way, and had forced about half his body through
the narrow window when he chanced to look up and saw to his
astonishment that Mr. Perry stood at the reading desk, conducting
evening prayer, in the presence of a nimierous congregation. It
was Lent, a fact that had escaped the absent-minded doctor. Dr.
Gates afterward said that what chiefly riveted his attention was
the face of Mrs. Perry, in the foreground, gazing at his burglarious
efforts with a look of fascinated horror that he never forgot. Some
kind friend sent an account of this incident to The Police Gazette
of New York, and this classic sheet issued a full page picture of
it, in which St. Michael's was expanded to about the size of St.
Patrick's Cathedral and was filled with a worshiping multitude,
while no feature of the method by which the doctor was gaining
admittance was allowed to lack in sensationalism.

In my boyhood there was much boasting about the excellence of
the Connecticut common school system, based on the fund that was
the proceeds of the sale of the so-called Western Keserve in Ohio.
I used to wonder why, if our free schools were so fine, we should
see no local evidence of the fact. We had in Litchfield one District
School, situated on West Street, and differing only in size from such
rural district schools as those on South Plains and Harris Plains.
Nobody went to it, who could afford a term's tuition at the Insti-
tute, whose building now forms part of the Henry K. Jones resi-
dence on North Street. My memory does not go back to the days
of the Kev. James Eichards, who used to throw inkstands at the
boys and otherwise give way to an ungovernable temper. Mr.
Eichards deserves mention in this connection on account of his
talented granddaughter, Mrs. Craigie, whose novels, written in
London, under the pen-name of John Oliver Hobbes, are of a high

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 237

order of litei«ary excellence and have doubtless been read by many
Litchfielders who do not know the author's connection with our town.

My first memories of the Institute are of the time when it was
revived after a brief period of coma by Edwin McNeill, Dr. Buel,
Henry K. Coit, and others, who had large families of children and
hesitated to take advantage of the Free School system, as it then
was. At this period I was interested chiefly in the primary depart-
ment, and Miss Sarah Bronson was my instructor.

In the 70's no one's education was considered complete in Litch-
field unless he or she had studied French, — a tribute to the waning
pre-eminence of that tongue in the world of polite letters. The
schools taught no languages but the dead ones, so we depended on
private tutors. The Frenchmen and Frenchwomen who filled this
oflFice in Litchfield formed an unbroken succession of character
studies. They taught us a little French and a great deal about
the characteristics of the French people.

There was little Mamselle Brun, like a small dried apple, who
had rooms at Stephen Trowbridge's, where the Playhouse now
stands. She said once, with a toss of her, head: "Wliat a differ-
ence zere is be-tween Madame B. and myself! She is all dignity;
while / am all grace and ease!"

Then there was old M. Laslier, noted for his frequent trans-
Atlantic trips. His benevolent Litchfield friends would subscribe
enough to send him to his dear Paris, where his relatives, after a
brief visit, would invariably ship him back to us. His income
from Litchfield students of French was not large, and it was
currently reported that in his room in the Beckwith block he lived
on something like an onion a day: there is no doubt about the
onion, though I will not swear to the day. He was fain to eke
out his income in various ways; once, for instance, by delivering
a lecture on Lafayette, in what was then known as the "old church"^
now the moving picture palace. Dressed in solemn black he rose,
before a select audience of his Litchfield friends, tiptoed to the
edge of the platform, closed his eyes, and began to recite the Lord's
Prayer, while his auditors did not quite know how to take it. In
the course of the lecture occurred this passage: "About zees time,
a gr-r-eat misfortune happen to Lafayette. He loss his gr-ran-
mothair!" Loud shouts of laughter from the audience, to the amaze-
ment and disgust of the lecturer.

Of a different stamp was the debonair M. Laloux, of an age to
touch the hearts of the susceptible. At the opening meeting of his
first class, he divided the members into grades, and when Anna
Hubbard alone was left he said genially: "Mees Hubbard, you may
split yourself up anyway you like!" Laloux was anxious that his
English should be both classy and up-to-date, and when his use of
slang caused laughter, he would inquire in all seriousness: "Aha!
Ees not zat in use in ze best circles?"

An educational institution not intended as such, but function-
ing on the whole in the direction of righteousness, was the County

238 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

court house, then our only temple of justice. New Milford, Falls
Village and Winsted had not then arisen as rival centers. We
attended many of the trials diligently. To watch a real story
unfold before one's eyes, to see the actual characters and hear them
tell what they had seen or experienced, and later to listen to the
impassioned pleas of the opposing counsel and the calm summing
up of the judge, followed by the breathless "waiting for the ver-
dict",— all this goes far ahead of any novel I have ever read, or
any play I ever saw. That at any rate, was the way we felt in
the 70's. Of course the story thus unfolded was always one of
crime or misdemeanor, though we took it all impersonally. The real
protagonists, in our eyes, were the lawyers: the judge was too
remote and chill to be regarded in that capacity. We naturally
took sides with the local talent: Henry B. Graves, Edward W. Sey-
mour, Solon B. Johnson. I was a little doubtful about Johnson,
because he edited the Sentinel, a Democratic sheet, and I was a
Kepublican, but his wit was something that could be matched at the
Litchfield bar neither before nor since.

I well remember him in his defence of Green, an alleged wife-
poisoner. He was pouring out the vials of his sarcasm on some
luckless physician, who had testified that he had prescribed the
application of ice for the wife, who had admittedly died of an over-
dose of strychnine, whether administered by her husband or not. "Once
upon a time", narrated Johnson, "a workman who was tamping a
blasting charge with a crowbar had the misfortune to set it off; and
the bar was driven through his body, half protruding on either side.
A doctor was summoned, who gave the following opinion: 'My good
man, if I leave that bar there, youTl die. If I pull it out, you'll
die. But I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you a pill that will
melt it where it is!" Johnson went on to say: 'Our friend here
would doubtless have prescribed — ice'/' For such passages as these
we waited, holding our breaths, while Solon B. was speaking. His
basso-profundo voice and preternatural solemnity, together with his
stature of about six feet three, added to the effect.

Edward W. Seymour was my Sunday School teacher and as
such I revered and loved him. He was rather belligerent in court,
and on one occasion when he was on a side that I had previously
made up my mind was the wrong one, I was so torn between con-
flicting emotions that I almost resolved to frequent the halls of
justice no longer. We always took sides and debated the cases
among ourselves with some heat.

Politics bulked somewhat more large in our lives in the 70's
than it does, I think, in those of the boys of to-day. The Civil War
had recently ended, and our political ideas expressed themselves
largely in military form. Why this should have been the case more
in 1870 than in 1920, when a much greater war has just ended, possi-
bly some sociologist will explain. Each political party had its
semi-military marching organization, and we had ours in imitation
of our elders. I recollect. parading on the North Street sidewalk

^^R^. EnwAKP W. SKNMnrK. (Mar\- Fli)\i! Tallmadae

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 239

and shouting: "Hurrah for Hawley! Get out for English!" These
being respectively the Republican and Democratic candidates for
Governor. I had no doubt whatever that Joseph K. Hawley was
good and that James E. English was wicked. My Democratic boy
friends held precisely the opposite opinion. How much present
day political feeling is any more logical? The old-fashioned elec-
tion-day would have scandalized the modem Litchfielder, I am sure.
We boys were allowed to make lists of the voters, as they deposited
their ballots, so that the political committees could check them up;
and we proudly supposed that we were performing an official func-
tion of some sort. As the day wore on, our mothers kept us
indoors, for the outlying voter was bent on painting the town red
before he returned to his rural home, and he often succeeded in so
doing to the point of actual riot.

Just as our elections have become more orderly, so the spirit
of order has spread in other directions. Litchfield has spruced
up. She gives more attention to-day to the things that please the
eye. In the late 60's, she was what we should now call slovenly.
Her lawns were uncut, her citizens thought more of the value of
an acre's crop of hay than of the pleasures of looking upon closely
cropped sward. Her yards were fenced, for there were not infre-
quently stray animals in the streets and the Town Pound was
something more than a name. By night the streets were dark, and
the possession of a hand lantern or two was a necessity in every
well-regulated family. Those distant lights, with their irregular
motion, compounded of the lantern's own pendulum swing and the
forward progress of him who held it, were familiar sights in those
days. Even after Mr. Perkins' shocking innovation of lampposts,
and even after the V. I. S. had encouraged private lights on the
tree trunks, the individual lantern still retained its popularity. It
is hard to realize the revolution wrought by electricity in our noc-
turnal habits, here and elsewhere.

In the winter we walked in the street. When we trace back
the sequence of causes, we come again to the Town Pound, oddly
enough. An occasional stray horse, cow, or pig, meant a fence to
keep them out; a fence, when the snow flies, acts precisely like the
snow-guards along the western railroad lines: it slows up the air
current, which drops its burden and builds up a drift along the
obstacle. These drifts were, with us, often higher than the fences,
and when hard we walked on them. Cleaning off the sidewalks
would have involved a continuous cut through impacted snow;
hence we walked in the middle of the street, and welcomed the ox-
sleds with their loads of wood, then the fashionable fuel, which
broke the road for us. The Borough regulations now require the
removal of snow, but the householder may thank the present infre-
quency of wandering beasts for the possibility of fence-removal that
has made our streets like parkways and incidentally abolished the
worst of the drifts.

240 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

In general, Litchfield's aspect is more colonial to-day than it
was in 1870. People were proud then of the old houses, but never
thought of keeping up their general effect in new constructions.
We think we have an artistic sense nowadays. Perhaps we have,
but I fear that our racial history is all against it. Just now it is
fashionable to be guided by artistic motives, but it is the fashion,^
not the art, that we obey primarily. In the Revolutionary days,
it was the fashion to build houses such as the Georgian architects
were building in the old country. That the motive was fashion,
not an appreciation of the beautiful, is sufficiently proved by the
fact that when fashion shifted to ugliness we began at once, with
these colonial gems before our very eyes, to build probably the
ugliest structures that the eye of man has ever rested on. We are
clearing them away now; scroll-saw decoration and pseudo-gothic
construction are going to the scrap heap, but that we have become
incapable of similar atrocities in the future I fear to believe. We
are no more original now than Ave were then; but we are imitating
the old models, which chance, heaven be praised, to be the better
ones.

So we may see in Litchfield streets to-day more good colonial
architecture than we did fifty years ago, although we may also see
some houses which, beautiful and costly as they may be, are not in
accord with its traditions. As for our church buildings, they are
all architecturally bad, and our one beautiful example of colonial
work we have tucked oft" in a corner, where it shelters a movie show.
This is the saddest thing I know about Litchfield. In the early
TO's it is a fact that the old colonial buildings were covertly sneered
at or regarded with amused tolerance. We felt toward them like
the western visitor to the Philadelphia Exposition of '76, who, as
related by the late Dr. William Deming, exclaimed to him dis-
appointedly: "I thought they would have some up-to-date buildings;
these old Greek things must be three hundred years old!"

I have said above that in Avinter we walked in the streets. A
good snow surface, hardened by passing runners, is not a bad
pavement, but it is sadly dependent on temperature. The snow
turned to slush and the frozen earth to mud, in mid-street, long
before the disappearance of the snow banks Avhich buried our
sidewalks. Then it was irksome to walk abroad. I have seen
laboring vehicles up to the hubs, I speak literally, in soft mud,
almost anywhere on North or South Streets. Not even an attempt
to improve the roads with gravel was made until the SCs, and the
macadam came much later. Even then we lived in flying and
floating dust until the prevalence of motor traffic, only a few years
ago, forced the use of oil and the preparations of tar, which though
odorous and dirty in themselves have possibly contributed more to
our general comfort and cleanliness than any other improvement of
the last half century. These good roads, thanks to an enlightened
state policy, are creeping out through the country in all directions.
Fortunately for those who come among us for rest and enjoyment.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 241

they are almost all scenic highways, as well as serving for com-
merce, their primary purpose, I do not know a section of the Union
where one may follow the ordinary channels of communication with
so great a certainty of seeing pleasing and constantly changing
A lews.

All the things that I have mentioned, repairetl, restored and
cleaned buildings, shaven lawns, well lighted streets, hartl, dust-
less roads, combine to produce on the visitor the impression of a
well kept park, that old Litchfield gave in a much less degree.
What is the cause of the change? Many persons would answer,
wealthy summer visitors. But this does not go to the root of the
matter. The change is due to a development of community feeling
and civic self-respect in which the influence of the summer resi-
dent with wealth and taste has been an undoubted factor. No one
can take stock of the houses on North and South Streets without
seeing that the number occupied in summer only has greatly increased.
Yet it is true that the civic spirit of which I have spoken began
to show itself long before the increase of summer residents. It first
showed itself in the Village Improvement Society, which gave us
shaven lawns, street crossings, concrete sidewalks, street lights, and
best of all a conviction that these things Avere good and a deter-
mination to have more of them. It cropped out later in the willing-
ness of our citizens to put good money into improved railway com-
munication, sewerage, water and lighting. Whether public or
private enterprise was the immediate cause, the underlying impulse
was the same, a quickened community consciousness, acting under
the spur of intelligent leadership and itself reacting to raise up
and stimulate new leaders. In all this, of course, the men of
means and good taste who have made Litchfield their summer home
have played a capital part; but it should be noted that these are
very largely Litchfielders themselves, bj' ancestry or by long resi-
dence. This town has been fortunate in its summer visitors. Many
a place has been ruined by them. Litchfield appears to be so con-
stituted that the sort of people it does not want do not like it and
would not live here under any circumstances. The exact reason
for all this will bear study; a passing mention is all that we can
give it here. It is surely noteworthy that without putting up the
bars, without formally creating a park or a club or anything of the
kind, this village has always been able to secure the citizens it
wants and to exclude undesirables.

Is this tendency toward the replacement of all-year residents by
summer visitors a good thing or not? That depends on what we
desire for Litchfield. In Torrington or Waterbury it would be a
very bad thing. Imagine, if you can, 60 per cent of the residents of an
industrial town turned out of their homes to make room for semi-
annual occupants! There could be no successful industrial life
under such conditions. If you want Litchfield to be an industrial
town, you will conclude that the change is bad for it also. Even
as it is, movement in this direction may have gone far enough.

242 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFII^LD

None of us, I think, would like to sec every house on North and
South Streets closed every winter. Permanent residential fsmiilies
are needed here to cany on the Litchfield social and community tra-
ditions, but without the yearly access of other citizens from with-
out, these traditions would be more apt to grow flat, stale and
unprofitable. This presupposes, of course, free social intercourse
between permanent and temporarj^ residents, and this has always
been the rule unless the temporary residents are unworthy. There
has never been any distinction here between visitors and towais-
people. I used to be afraid of it and I remember a symptom or
two in times now happily long passed. It is not altogether because
Litchfield people have always been socially acceptable. They have
been that of course; but I have been in old New England towns
where families of as good birth, breeding and education as ours were
placed in the disagreeable position of being looked down upon by
persons of extremely doubtful urban antecedents, whose wealth had
enabled them to create a social machine which rolled over that of
the old fashioned residents as a veritable car of Juggerimut. The
reason is rather that so many of our most influential summer resi-
dents have themselves been Litchfielders by birth or ancestry,
that many of the houses left vacant in the winter have been old
family mansions, links between the pennanent society of the village
and its summer social fabric. A visitor at the Hotel was heard
to remark recently that she desired to attend a function at the
Club House, in order '"to see what a real country audience looked
like". If she had done so, she w^ould have seen a gathering com-
posed partly of New Yorkers, and residents of other cities, and
partly of those who dwell in Litchfield the year roiind; but I doubt
if she would have been able to distinguish between them, certainly
not by their long chin-whiskers and the hayseeds in their hair.

The community feeling, of which I have already spoken, has
doubtless been strengthened by the very fact that so many persons
have thus loved Litchfield as a community rather than any par-
ticular persons in it, or any particular locality in it. Our feeling
of affection for it is rather a compound than a sum; we have the
people, and the houses, and the elms, and the hills, but the result-
ing feeling is related to these in the same way that the properties
of a chemical compound are related to those of its constituents.
No one can taste in salt the chlorine or the sodium that compose it.
Now the fact that so many persons have always regarde<l Litchfield
in the community sense must have had the eftect of increasing and
developing community feeling in its citizens. I believe that this feel-
ing has been and is being transmitted to the younger generation
and I see no reason Avhy it should die out, though it may be modi-
fied. It is quite evidently modified indeed by a factor that is
changing the whole of modern life. I refer to the ])ossibility of
rapid transit by automobile. The motor has contracted our maps
in the same proi^ortion that it has extended our facilities. Comparing
what the scientists call the hour curves of travel of a half centurv

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 243

ago, with those of the present, we find that the time grade of our
neighborhood has been completely altered since my boyhood. Then
the first hour circle, for most of us, would have passed through
Bantam, about half way to Torriugton, and a mile this side of East
Litchfield. For those of us who had horses at command it would
have lain somewhat further out. But to-day, how the lines have
sprung apart! The first hour line of the automobile may pass
beyond Xew Milfoixi on one side and two-thirds of the way to Hart-
ford on the other. The second may lie partly outside the State.

The result of this state of things is that for the present gener-
ation the environs of Litchfield have broadened out well over the
State, overlapping and intermingling with those of many other
cities and towns. We thought of Litchfield as our all; to them
it is merely a center, a place from which to start and to which to
return. Their knowledge of it is vastly more extensive than ours
was; but ours was more intensive. They know how to get from
Harwinton to Farmington; Ave knew how to walk across country
to Prospect Mountain and the quickest way from Hollister's Bridge
to Chestnut Hill. They know the broad topography of the coun-
try in many counties, the lay of hill ranges, the valleys and streams;
we knew every i)ath, the stones in all the brooks, almost every tree,
within a narrow radius of a few miles. I do not know that either
knowledge is better than the other; each difters from the other,
that is all.

Their Litchfield is not quite ours; but the change here is not
objective, but subjective, though it has been brought about by a
material factor, the invention of machinery for rapid transporta-
tion. I see no reason why the extended Litchfield should bar out
the intimate knowledge of immediate surroundings. In many
cases it seems to have done so; in some few it has not, and I hope
that its i)ermanent effect will be to add to our opportunities, not
simply to substitute one set for another.

In only one respect can I see that the old intinmte and inten-
sive knowledge of the country, of whicli I have spoken, has held
its own. Our people, young and old, know the river well, between
the Little Pond and the Lake. They know it better than we did.
We went in row-boats from one pond to tlie other: they start with
their fiock of canoes from the canoe-house. Here is a sport into
Avhich speed cannot enter, and its continuetl popularity is a hope-
ful sign. But elsewhere, as I have said, the Speed King sits on
his throne.

It is in line with our community life that we have become
"socialized" in many ways unknown to our ancestors. In my boy-
hood, the churches were the chief social as well as religious organi-
zations. Now Ave have clubs for old and young, and for both
together. In my boyhood the ever present gang instinct showed
itself in the formation of temporary groups, but these were unknown
to our elders as well as unnoticed by them, A club to which old
and young alike should belong would have been unthinkable; such

244 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

clubs indeed were unheard of anywhere in our country in that day.
Their advent is an indication that everyv^^here, and not in Litchfield
alone, we are moving in this country toward a more coherent social
organization. But the existence of bodies of the kind we now have
in so small a community as ours, is evidence, it would seem, that
this movement has gone further and struck in deeper in Litchfield
than in other places.

The opinion has been expressed that the greatest change in
Litchfield is a liberalization of thought and habit, a loosening of
the bonds in religion and morals, a reaction in fact from Puritanism.
This is perhaps true, but it is not peculiar to Litchfield, and if
we take a broad enough view we need not attach supreme impor-
tance to it. These things swing in cycles. There are always
Puritans and always Cavaliers. Changes mean only that there
is a slight shifting of majorities, whereby now one and now the
other is in the ascendancy.

Possibly some may think that this attempt to tell of the changes
in Litchfield has succeeded only in showing that it has changed
very little, perhaps not at all. I shall not feel that I have failed
altogether, even if this is the conclusion. Human nature is eternally
the same, and its manifestations cannot vary greatly with the years.
Whatever our changes have been, they are essentially human, and
our lack of change is human also. Litchfielders will be men and
women for many a year to come, and we may hope and expect
that they will continue to be the type of men and women that have
honored Litchfield in the past, the outcome of an honest and
sturdy stock, shaped by an environment that they and their ancestors
have loved, and that can never, we are proud to think, turn out an
inferior product

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE WORLD WAR.

BY FLORENCE ELIZABETH ENNIS.

It is difficult to look back upon the past few years as a "period"
in our history, the events are so recent that it seems only yester-
day that we were doing as a matter of course, all the things here
recorded, because our one thought was that "we must win the war".
The sympathy of our town was so whole-heartedly with the Allies,
that from the outbreak of the war in Europe in August, 1914, we
felt that we were with them spiritually in the great struggle, and
it was with a deep sense of relief that we took our place beside
them in 1917.

The first evidt*nce of our sympathy for the war victims was an
appeal for funds, issued by the Litchfield Red Cross Chapter on
August 13, 1914, which met with a generous response. The first
relief work done in our town was started by Miss E. D. Bininger,
who gathered together a group of women to make garments for
the wounded Belgians.

On September 5, 1914, a very successful Lawn Fete was given
for the benefit of the Red Cross at Kilravock Farm, the home of Mr.
and Mrs. Louis A. Ripley. The fete was organized by Mrs. William
Woodville Rockhill and her general committee, Mrs. John L. Buel
and !Mrs. Ripley. Mr. and Mrs. Rockhill had just returned to
Litchfield to live, having lived abroad while Mr. Rockhill was in
the diplomatic service.

The day of the fete was all that could be desired, and it was
estimated that about 1,300 persons attended, many coming by auto-
mobile from distant parts of the state. The diversions furnished
by the committee were varied enough, to suit all tastes, and
included a Gymkhana, a ball game (which Litchfield lost to Water-
town), dancing, a baby show, fortune telling, a horse race, a shoot-
ing gallery and lawn games. A special feature, which was much
admired, was the charmingly arranged enclosure of the Garden
Club, Avherein were sold plants, flowers, seeds and garden imple-
ments.

The Litchfield Enquirer issued a souvenir edition, in honor of
the occasion, emblazoned with the Red Cross emblem, which was
sold on the grounds. Many new members were secured for the
Red Cross. The sum of $4,000 was sent to the Red Cross National
Headquarters, $1,600 of which represented the proceeds of the fete,
and the remainder donations.

246 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

A second Lawn Fete was held a year later at Kilravock Farm,
also for the benefit of the Ked Cross, and was under the direction
of Mrs. Ripley and Mrs. Gordon W. Burnham. Again our uncer-
tain New England weather, which has been known to spoil the best
laid plans, was on its good behavior. Besides booths for the sale
of fancy articles, an excellent vaudeville performance was provided,
the hit of the afternoon being a minstrel show, given by our leading
citizens. A boxing match was a great attraction and was watched
with absorbed attention by a surprising number of our Litchfield
matrons. The Boy Scouts gave an exhibition and drill, and were
as always of great assistance in many ways. A prize was awarded
to the best couple in a dancing contest, and was presented by Mrs.
E. H. Sothern (Julia Marlowe), our distinguished summer visitor.
$1,500 was raised for the Red Cross.

During the summer of lOlfi. Miss Harriet C. Abbe organized
regular sessions for the making of hospital garments and surgical
dressings for the Allies. Wlien Miss Abbe left in the fall for her
winter home, this work Avas taken over by the Litchfield Cliapter
of the Red Cross, under the direction of Mrs. Charles H. Coit, who
served as chairman of the Production Committee from this time
until June, 1919.

As the Litchfield Chapter has, like so many institutions in our
town, so long and honorable a career behind it, it is necessary here
to go back and briefly outline its history up to 1914. Organize<l
in May, 1898, as Red Cross Auxiliary No. 16, our Chapter has the
distinction of being the oldest Red Cross organization in Con-
necticut.

The Auxiliary was started for tlie purpose of helping the
soldiers in the Spanish- American War, and produced 3,646 hospital
garments, and raised $708.10 during the summer of 1898. These
amounts are interesting, as later we shall see the enormous figures
which were piled up in money and output, after we liad been trained
to think in millions.

The Auxiliary was re-organized in October, 1900, as Auxiliary
No. 5, of the American National Red Cross, which had by this time
secured the protection and recognition of the United States Govern-
ment for its insignia. On July 11, 1905, it was again re-organized
and the Auxiliary became Sub-Division No. 1, of the Connecticut
Branch. In March 1910, the Sub-Division became a full fledged
chapter with jurisdiction OA'er the entire county, and it was as
the Litchfield County Chapter that we began our war work in 1914.

The Red Cross work rooms have been housed in various places.
Some of the earliest meetings were held in the ToAvn Hall. For the
succeeding summers, the Lawn Club Avas put at the disposal of the
Chapter, by the owner, Mrs. John A. Vanderpoel. The Community
Center room was used for the first winter, Avhen cold weather made
the Lawn Club vminhabitable; for the folloAving winters the Sanctum
Club gave up the second floor of its club house to the workers.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 247

In 1916 the war still raged on, and "preparedness" became the
great issue. Hobart Guion, George Guion, Edward Pikosky, R.
Dunscomb Sanford and Frank Barrett organized a military com-
pany, which was called the "Litchfield Rifles", and which met once
a week for business and drill. Edward Pikosky, who had been a
drillmaster in the United States Army, and Lieut. Robert F. Jack-
son, U. S. A. (retired), trained the company.

At the same time another company sprang into existence, the
"Litchfield Light Horse", Avith thirty members, and the weekly
drills under the supervision of George Guion and Edward Pikosky
became quite a picturesque feature of our quiet streets. These com-
panies Avere purely civic and had no connection in any way with
the state or federal governments.

Litchfield's daughters believed in "preparedness" as well as her
young men, and a number of them joined the Rifle Club, becoming
so proficient that they were regarded as a real bulwark against the
Huns, shoidd Litchfield ever be invaded. It is perhaps well to add,
that while the Rifle Club held many of its meetings for practice in
the "lock-up" of the Court House, no damage was done to building
or members.

Our town was well represented at both Plattsburg Officers'
Reserve Camps, in 1910 and 1917, several of our young men receiv-
ing commissions.

In February 1917 came the severing of diplomatic relations
with Germany, and we knew it was only a question of time when
the United States would take her place with the Allies. Acting
upon instructions from National Headquarters, the Litchfield Chap-
ter of the Red Cross called a public meeting and took the necessary
steps to put the chapter on a war basis.

The period which followed was a time of painful anxiety while
the whole country waited for war to be declared with Germany. The
state of tension whicli ^vo all felt is shown by the following
telegram, signed by Mrs. John L, Buel, as State Regent of the
D. A. R., nnd about thirty men, representing all the business and
professional interests of the town: "The following citizens of Litch-
field, Conn., ask for positive stand for war with Germany to pre-
serve national safety and honor"; and sent to President Wilson,
Senator Frank B. Brandegee and Congressman James P. Glynn.

A state of Avar Avith Gennany Avas declared on April 6, 1917,
aiul the machinery for putting the nation on a Avar footing Avas
set in motion. With our boys enlisting for service overseas, the
older men Avelcomed the opportunity for patriotic service in the
home toAvn, and the Governor's call for the formation of a Con-
necticut State Guard (popularly knoAvn as the "Home Guard")
Avas quickly ansAvered. A company of 63 infantry and 18 calvary
AA'as mustered in by Captain Henry H. Saunders of Norfolk, on
May 24. With the formation of the Home Guard the "Litchfield
Riflles" and the "Light Horse" were disbanded.

24S THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

With our entry into tlie war, the conservation and distribution
of food became a matter of first importance. We were told that
"food will win the war, don't waste it", in every mail, by every
newspaper, and from every space where it was possible to hang
a poster, and accordingly conservation became the order of the
day. Our town clerk, George H. Hunt, received instructions from
the Governor to appoint local Food Supply Committees, and thus
began an era of canning. The Committee on Canning appointed
by Mr. Hunt was merged with the Home Economics Committee of
the Farm Bureau, Mrs. Philip P. Hubbard, chairman. A sub-
committee, on Canning and Labor (an excellent title) with Miss
Harriet M. Richards as chairman, worked valiantly to conserve sur-
plus fruit and vegetables. A volunteer force was organized and
canning was done for individual customers, supplies were laid in
for the school lunch room, and goods were prepared for sale. The
work was partly done in the school kitchen and partly in the rooms
of the Farm Bureau. Miss Amy Thurston, Mrs. William S. Plumb,
and many others helped to make this work the great success it was.

All the organizations in town did their bit in one way and
another to help "win the war". The Garden Club gave demonstra-
tions in the preparation of food, did much publicity work in the
interests of conservation, distributed war recipes, and held sales of
fruits and vegetables which might otherwise have been wasted.
These "French Markets" as they were called, were held on the
Green and the booth was an attractive sight.

The Mary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter of the D. A. R., cooperated
heartily in all the local war work, besides carrying on the special
lines of work undertaken by their organization. In the making of
surgical dressings, in knitting, in food conservation, in the salvage
of materials needed by the Government ( such as the fruit pits which
were collected for use in the manufacture of gas masks), and in
the support of all the Liberty Loan Campaigns and all the numer-
ous drives for money, the members proved themselves true daugh-
ters of those sturdy pioneers who laid the foundations of the
democracy we were fighting to save.

Mrs. John L. Buel was appointed a member of the Women's
Committee of the State Council of Defense, representing the Daugh-
ters of the American Revolution, and was elected first vice-president
of the Committee. The chairman of the Local Committee for Litch-
field was Mrs. F. A. Stoddard.

Under this Local Committee of the State Council of Defense,
a splendid food show was given on April 18, 1918, in the Town Hall,
to demonstrate what could be done with the substitutes we were
asked to use instead of our accustomed foodstuffs. The exhibits
Avere not only attractive to the eye, but Avere absolutely convincing
as to the possibilities of war cookery, as each visitor was given a
paper plate and spoon and allowed to discover for himself how
delicious food could be, and yet be within the bounds we were asked

Mk-. Ji.HX Laiiii.aw liri:i., biATK RKr.F.XT, D. A. K.
( Klizahetli C Harnev iUiel i

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 249

to keep by Mr. Hoover, the Food Commissioner. Brilliant posters
(without the posters these years of war would have been drab
indeed) set forth much useful information. In the evening lec-
tures were given by Miss Hays of Storrs Agricultural College and
by Miss Bronson of the Farm Bureau.

An all-day Victory Conference was held in Litchfield on May
8, 1918, by the State Council of Defense, under the direction of
Mrs. Stoddard and her Local Committee.

The "gasless Sundays" which we were asked to observe were
well respected. "Wheatless days" and "meatless days" were scru-
pulously kept, and most of the clubs in town gave up refreshments
at their meetings, or if a cup of tea was served, all were asked
to supply their own sugar. "War gardens" were the fashion,
and with the great scarcity of labor a unit of the Women's Land
Army, popularly known as "farmerettes", which was stationed in
Litchfield, proved of real value.

The first Liberty Loan Campaign was inaugurated by a meet-
ing of representatives of all the women's organizations in town,
called by Mrs. John L. Buel, who had been appointed chairman of
the Women's Committee for the Loan. Plans were made to canvass
the town, and a mass meeting arranged for June 10, 1917. At this
public meeting, which was held in the Congregational church, on
Sunday afternoon, Charles H. Coit, chairman of the Liberty Loan
Committee explained the business side of the Loan, and patriotic
speeches were made by Rev. Frank J. Goodwin, D.D. and Mrs.
Goodwin.

The district covered by the Committee for this Loan was Litch-
field, Morris, Bethlehem, Washington, Warren, and Goshen; and
the total subscriptions were $69,050.

The second Liberty Loan was tremendously helped by the rally
held on October 25, 1917, which was planned and carried out by
Edward H. Sothern. $155,000 had been subscribed before the Rally,
and the amount subscribed at the meeting was $98,750. The pro-
gram consisted of patriotic music, recitations by both Mr. and
Mrs. Sothern, and the reading of the Honor Roll of those Litchfield
boys who were in the service of the country.

The district covered by the second Loan Avas the same as the
first, a quota was given of $146,000; and total amount subscribed
was $305,450. ,

The special feature of the third Liberty Loan Campaign was a
patriotic rally held at Colonial Hall, April 8, 1918, with Judge
Robert W. Munger as the speaker of the occasion. The singing
Avas led by Thomas F. Ryan.

Bantam held its own rally for this Loan, under the direction
of Winfield Scott Rogers and Miss Nellie M. Scott; and the occa-
sion was a great success.

For the third Loan the district was changed to the town of
Litchfield, the quota was $150,500 ; and the amount subscribed, $217,-

250 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

750, shows that our town had gone "over the top" again. It is a
matter of pride, that as far as is known, Litchfield has never faile<l
to fill, and more than fill, the quotas which have been set for her,
in any of the many drives.

Litchfield was awarded an Honor flag for this Loan and an
interesting celebration marked the raising of the flag. There were
several four-minute speeches, Mr. Rogers being the first speaker in
honor of Bantam's splendid record. The flag was raised by Miss
Nellie M. Scott of Bantam, assisted by Mr. Coit. The assistance
was so vigorous that the rope was pulled out, leaving Old Glory
flying at the top of the pole with only one halyard. Louis J.
Goodman Ji*. came to the rescue, "shinnied" up the pole, and brought
down the flag. The exercises then proceeded according to schedule.

A "community sing'' was held on the Green on Saturday, Sep-
tember 29, 1918, at noon, at the request of the New England Liberty
Loan Committee, to mark the official opening of the fourth Loan.
The singing was led by Judge Eyan, assisted by Albert J. Haus-
mann, bugler.

The district for the fourth Loan was again the town of Litch-
field, the quota was $315,000, and the amount subscribed $437,000.

The Victory Loan in May, 1919, was not marked by any special
features. House to house canvassing by the women of the town
was done for all five Loans, and the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts
helped greatly in the campaigns.

For the fifth or Victory Loan the district remained the town of
Litchfield, the quota was $237,000, and the amount raised $297,300.

The first Red Cross War Fund Drive for $100,000,000 followed
immediately after the first Liberty Loan campaign, and was held
the week of June 18-25, 1917. John H. Lancaster was appointed
chairman of the drive. The territory covered by the Chapter Avas
in a state of re-adjustment, and in April, 1917, the word "Coujity"
had been dropped from the name as it no longer applied, many
sections of the jurisdiction foinuerly covered liaving left the (Chap-
ter. The quota for the Litclifield Chapter was $15,000. and the
total amount collected was $26,076.53.

Tlic second War Fund Drive held by tlie Red Cross for a second
fund of $100,000,000 was held in May 1918. By this time the terri-
troy covered by the Litchfield Chapter was thoroughly organized
and was hard at Avork answering the ever increasing orders for
more and more output. The quota was again $15,000 and the sum
of $34,433.75 was raised. Twenty five per cent, of this amount was
retained by the Chapter for the work in surgical dressings.

The work of the Red Cross increased enormously with our
entrance into the war. To Mrs. Coit, as chairman of the Produc-
tion Committee, to Mrs. Charles N. Warner, supervisor of knitting
and refugee garments; to Mrs. John Dove, supervisor of hospital
garments; and to their faithful workers is due the credit for the
production of 242,578 surgical dressings, 5,953 knitted articles, 3,734

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 251

hospital garments, 2,407 refugee garments from October 1916 to
October 1919. The Junior Red Cross, under the leadership of Mrs.
William J. Dykes, produced 3,447 refugee garments in addition to
those mentioned above.

With the increasing war work the clerical work of the Chapter
became so heavy that a central office was a necessity. While the
Executive Committee was still looking in vain for office room,
Judge Ryan generously offered the use of a room in his building,
which was supplied with all the equipment needed, such as type-
writer, telephone, etc. The offer was gratefully accepted, and the
executive secretary held regular office hours from August 1918 till
the following June. The room is still occupied by the Chapter.

These were days of much i)ublic speaking, there was so much
that the people needed to know about, and so much that they were
expected to do, when it had been told to them. The Litchfield War
Bureau and the Litchfield Grange arranged a patriotic rally for
February 28, 1918, and Prof. Charles M. Bakewell of Yale Univer-
sity told us from his personal experiences something of the real
nature of our enemy. This was one of the finest war talks heard
in Litchfield, and the occasion was also memorable by the dedica-
tion of the Grange Service flag with its seven stars.

With our joining the Allies, the display of Old Glory became
almost universal, and nearly every house carried the colors. As
our boys departed to help "make the world safe for democracy",
another flag began to be seen. This, the "service flag", hung in the
window and indicated by the blue star on the red-bordered white
field that a member of the liousehold had left it for the country's
service. More than one house in our town bore a service flag with
three stars on it. Each church had its flag showing the number of
its young men who were in the army or navy.

On April 27, 1918, through the generosity of one of our residents,
the people of Litchfield were giA^en the privilege of hearing the
soldier-poet, John Masefleld, talk on "The War and the Future".
No one who heard Mr. Masefleld will ever forget the quiet Avay
in which he gave picture after picture of the war in all its horroi*,
and when the tension seemed more than one could bear, lightened
it with a flash of the characteristic humor of the Tommies. After
his lecture Mr. Masefleld read some of his poems. No admission
was charged, Mr. Masefleld turning over his fee to the Red Cross.

A second lecture was given 1)y Mr. ^lasefield on July 30, under
the auspices of the Historical Society, for the benefit of the Red
Cross.

A campaign for the sale of War Saving Stamps, beginning
June 28, 1918, was conducted by Thomas F. Ryan, Chairman of
Litchfield township. A thorough canvass was made and pledges
were secured from 2,656 adults over 14 years of age, covering pur-
chases of $8,330 par value of stamps, and minimum pledges of
$21,395 more during the coming year. The quota of 88 per cent.

252 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

reached in Litchfield was the highest recorded anywhere in the
state, in respect to the total number of registrations, making Litch-
field the banner town.

In order to finish the account of the drives held in Litchfield,
we will jump to November 1918, and the campaign for funds held
by the seven war relief agencies, and known as the United War
Work Campaign. When the Ked Cross first asked for $100,000,000
it seemed as if the high water mark in giving had been set, but the
seven agencies, combining in one drive, asked for the sum of $250,-
000,000 to complete their war obligations. The seven agencies were
the Y. M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A., the Knights of Columbus, the
Jewish Welfare Association, the War Camp Community Service,
the American Library Association and the Salvation Army. In
spite of the fact that the Armistice had just been signed, with the
inevitable let-down of enthusiasm for war work, the quota of $11,-
250 was exceeded ; the sum raised amounting to $11,491.45.

During the preceding summer, Mrs. L. P. Bissell had collected
by means of a "Crucibl^', articles and jewelry of gold and silver.
The contents of the Crucible was sold for the sum of $200 and the
money given to the War Camp Community Service fund.

Kev. William J, Brewster was the chairman of the Near-East
Drive, 1919, the quota was $4,600 and $5,867.33 was subscribed.

Besides these drives which have been described in detail, num-
erous lesser drives were held, such as the three membership drives
of the Red Cross; the two clothing drives for the sufferers in
Europe; a "Linen Shower" for the French hospitals; a drive for
associate members for the Boy Scouts ; the same for the Girl Scouts ;
for the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A.; for books and magazines
for the soldiers; so that scarcely a week passed without an oppor-
tunity to show one's generosity and patriotism.

In all that was done to ''keep the home fires burning" it must
be understood that the school children did their full share. Through
the Junior Red Cross and through the general war work of the
town, they were brought into direct contact with the great needs of
the tune, and responded as our future citizens should.

The task of collecting and prese^^'ing the history of the Litch-
field men avIio served in the great war, will be done by the two posts
of the American Legion, which have been formed in Bantam and in
Litchfield. There has not been time since the return of the men
and the formation of the Posts to do more than make a beginning
of this work. At the present writing, one of our men, Robert K.
Munroe, is still with the engineers at Coblenz.

With the exception of one group af men who served together
in the 102nd Infantry the Litchfield boys were scattered through
the forces, and were in many different branches of the senice.
Lieut. T. A. Langford, in the Marines, was wounded twice and saw
much heavy fighting. Among those in the aviation section, were
Allan Trumbull, Alexis Doster, Henry L. Page, James Kirwin,

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 253

Edward P. Heath. Those who served as medical officers were Dr.
Charles H. Turkington, Dr. Charles I. Page, Jr., Dr. Nelson Lloyd
Deming, and Dr. John E. Keller. Dr. William Champion Deming,
a former Litchfield man, also served in the war.

During the summer of 1917 the Selective Draft had been put
in operation, William T. Marsh serving on the Board. The first
six men left for Camp Devens at Ayer, Massachusetts, on September
9. From time to time other groups left, and were wished Grod-
speed by those who gathered to see them off, many of whom went with
the boys to Torrington, where they entrained. The Red Cross saw
that the men were supplied with knitted comforts and gave them
a farewell supper before they left. A Smoke Club was organized by
the business men of the town to supply the boys with tobacco.

With our men in the training camps, on the high seas, and in
the trenches, the State Council of Defense made an appeal that
our celebration of the Fourth in 1918, should be not only "safe and
sane", but of such a character that all the elements of the com-
munity would be drawn together in a common observance of the
day. The committee in charge decided upon an old-fashioned
picnic, and invited the people of Morris, Goshen and Bethlehem to
join us. The day started with a fine parade in which many organi-
zations of the town were represented and a special feature was
made of the floats, prizes being given for the best.

After the parade all gathered on the Green, hunted up
the lost members of their party and settled under the shade of the
trees to enjoy a picnic lunch. As the people sat together in this
"folksy" way, the thought of the boys with the colors made an under-
current of sympathy and neighborliness.

After the lunch the exercises were held in the West Park, the
Hon. Porter H. Dale of Vermont making the address. The usual
Fourth-of-July thunder shower lent a touch of excitement to the
day.

Of those who went from Litchfield, some had already at this
time made the supreme sacrifice for their country. There were in
all ten service flags in our town, which were entitled to change the
blue star for the gold star of honor.

The first man to give his life was Howard C. Sherry, who died
of pneumonia at Camp Johnston, Florida, on January 16, 1918.
Robert P. Jeffries died of the same disease on -January 20, at Camp
Gordon, Georgia. A military funeral was held for Howard Sherry
at the ilethodist church, and on the following day, ;i similar ser-
vice was held at St. Paul's church in Bantam, whei'o Robert Jef-
fries had lived. The Home Guard and a delegation from the Red
Cross attended both services.

Corporal Frank A. Morgan, Co. M., 102 Reg., was the first man
to enlist from Litchfield. Twice rejected because of underweight,
he did not give up, and was able to enter the service when the
weight limit was lowered. The first to volunteer, Morgan was the

254 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

first mail to laj- down his life iu battle. His mother, Mrs. G.
Duraiid Merriman received the following letter, giving the circum-
stances of his death: "Your son. Corporal Frank A. Morgan was
killed June 20, 1918, near Mandres in the Toul sector. He was
killed by the concussion of a shell; even though he died instantly,
there was not a mark; on him. . . . AVhen we first went into the line
he acted as a runner between the i)latooii and company headquarters
and did his work so well that I proposed his name to the company
commander as one to be made corporal at the first opportunity, and
I am sure that had he lived he Avould have continued to win promo-
tions. He is buried in an American Military Cemetery and the
fiag he fought for floats over his grave, while by his side are com-
rades who with him have paid the supreme price".

A letter which Corporal Morgan wrote to his mother expresses
the splendid spirit with which our forces met their baptism of fire.

"SomcAvhere in France.
My dearest beloved Mother:

Well I have not written to anyone noAv for a week but it seems
like a month. We will be in our rest camp in a few days so I'll
Avrite a nice long letter. Just received three letters from you and
you know I always love to henr from home and Mother. Also got
a letter from Chas. I am sitting outside writing this letter and
several of the fellows are doing the same. It has been a "'perfect
day". Saw some nice flower gardens here and pansy beds. Sum-
mer comes early. We have also had some nice air raids today.
One German plane was brought down burning. Air raids are as
regular as the clocks in most parts of France. But they never
do any harm. It is pastime for us to lay on the ground and
watch them dij) and duck around in the sky.

You have probably heard by this time that the 102nd made a
good showing on the line. We will show the enemy what It is to
])rovoke the 'Stars and Stripes'". Now I Ciin tell you that I've
been in the first line trenches, face to face with Fritz. The first
time we were in for five days, then we came out for five and went
in again. The first time we didn't lose a man. But the second
time Ave had our first experience Avith gas. We went in with
230 men but returned Avith a few less. Of course Ave mourn the
loss of our comrades. But you need not Avorry about me for I'm
safe Avith tlie company. You knoAV AA'hat Sherman said? Well
you can promise the Avorld I said he w^as right. You knoAv it will
mean business this summer. But Ave Avant simimer to come any-
Avay and haAC it over. I Avould like to be sitting under the old
apple tree this siunmer, but I Avill next year believe me. You tell
everybody I say this is Fritz's last try and it is bound to fail. . . .
Glad you are all Avell and happy and there's no reason Avhy you
shouldn't be for I am.

Well I can't Avrite much more as it is getting late, liglits out
at nine o'clock. And Avhatever you do don't Avorrv' about me. May

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 255

God protect me till we meet again for I'm sure we will. Write
soon and often to your loving son,

FRANK A. MORGAJST"

Thomas F. Weir and his brother James were privates in the
same regiment, the 102nd. Thomas Weir gives the following
account of the action in which his brother was killed: "At the
start of the Chateau Thierry drive they went over the top at 5:30
A. M. and went into woods the other side of the starting position.
They relieved the Marines, with Marines on left and French on
right; the position was in a horse shoe. The company went ahead
and had to wait for the French. They went back and went ahead
again without barrage. Co. H. was in the 2nd batallion. Enemy
artillery fire was very heavy, 2nd battalion in support, 3rd battalion
ahead and 1st in reserve. The company was in open field kneeling
down in close formation, a German big shell came over and landed
200 yards away. A piece landed beside the two Weir boys and
hit James between the eyes. Roy Hotchkiss helped to carry out
and bandage James, who was taken to the 103rd Field Hospital at
La Ferte and buried there".

In a letter written by James Weir to the Smoke Club, he
shoAvs that he too had that "old New England spirit all right".

"Co. H., 102nd U. S. Inf.
March 29, 1918.
Sinoko Club of Litchfield:

As I have a few minutes I want to write and thank the people
of Litchfield for their smokes, as I must say they are more than
appreciatetl. I don't know Avhat I would have done without them,
not only the cigarettes, but the Enquirer also.

I am glad to be able to say we have been in the trenches for
a long time and you can tell all the boys I will be home for that
Labor Day parade, as the boys are all in trim and ready for any-
tliiijg tliat comes up. They have that old New England spirit all
right. This is said to be the best regiment in France, bar none.
Not so bad for the boys from Connecticut. We are all feeling fine
and waiting patiently for a shot at the Kaiser, and not a bit afraid
of their old Springfielrts. Avken they say we are doing our bit, too.
It is rather a ticklish job, but the boys don't mind it in the least.

You can imagine the shrapnel bursting over head and big shells
whizzing on all sides of us. We just laugh and watch to see if
we can see them going through the air. We have had many close
calls. One old six inch shell dropped about four feet from me,
but it was my luck it was dead and didn't go off, so I made up my
mind I was going home when it didn't get me that time. . . .

The boys from home are all fine — Tom and Matt Breunan, Matt
Hotchkiss, Howard Brown and all the rest of the boys. Trusting
all my Litchfield friends are in the best of health and thanking
vou again for the cigarettes, I remain as ever,

JAMES WEIR"

2S6 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

Private August Guinchi of the Coast Artillery 56tli Regiment
died of typhoid fever on October 31, 1918, resulting from the effects
of gas. Private Guinchi was gassed while driving a tank. He is
buried in the American Battle Area Cemetery at Langres, Depart-
ment of Haute-Marne.

Another victim of disease, Clayton A. Devines, died of Spanish
Influenza in camp at Jacksonville, Florida. A memorial service
was held at the Congregational church on December 1, 1918.

Joseph Donohue was a Junior Republic boy who served with
the 102nd, Co. D., and was killed in action on July 23, 1918.

Roy E. Corn well who died on shipboard en route to France,
had lived in Litchfield for some time and had been a member of
the Home Guard. He enlisted from Elizaville, N. Y., the home
of his father, but as he had been so identified with Litchfield he is
included in our list of those who lost their lives in the war.

Henry Cattey was a Northfield boy, who lived in the Marsh
district. He was killed in action, but it has not been possible ta
obtain details of his death.

Pio Zavotti, like August Guinchi, an Italian, but an American
when his adopted country needed him, is supposed to have been
killed in action. He had lived in Litchfield for several years and
worked at the Ripley farm, and gave Litchfield as his address^
when he went into the army.

About fifty former citizens of the Junior Republic were with
the American Expeditionary Forces. Those who died in action
and are not included in the ten from Litchfield, as they had their
homes elsewhere, are: Timothy O'Connor, Norman Stein, and
Roger Wilson. Lieutenant Timothy O'Connor, Co. M., 108th
Infantry, had many friends in Litchfield who Avill be proud of
the gallantry of his death. He Avas cited for braver}', in the fol-
lowing words: "2nd Lieut. Timothy O'Connor (deceased) for great
personal courage and inspiring qualities of leadership while in
command of his company. Even after being mortally wounded,
this officer's last words were for the men to continue their attack.
This was in the battle of La Salle River, France, October 17, 1918",

We have now to record the honors earned by one of our men,,
who, happily, recovered from his wounds. Lieut. Joseph R. Busk
was cited on June 20, 1918, in these words: "The following action
of 2nd Lieut. J. R. Busk, Inf. R. A. 38th Infantry, is mentioned as
deserving particular commendation as showing the determined effort
of this officer to accomplish at all hazards a mission on which he
had been sent: On the night of June 16-17, 1918, this officer was
designated to cross the Marue River with a patrol for the purpose
of capturing and bringing back a prisoner, by surprising any of
the enemy who were moving; he had not accomplished the mission
after having waited until almost daylight; wlien he boldly entered a
wood supposed to be occupie<l by the enemy, where he encountered a
hostile detachment which fired on his patrol and severely wounded

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 257

liim". Lieut. Busk was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross
for "Extraordinary heroism in action east of Chateau Thierry,
France, June 17, 1918. Despite the coldness of the water, the
swiftness of the current, and the presence of the enemy on the
opposite bank, Lieut. Busk completed a personal reconnaissance of
the enemy's position by swimming the River Marne, after which
he took a patrol across the river in boats and obtained valuable
information regarding the movements of the enemy".

Lieut. Busk was further honored by King Albert I, of Belgium,
who conferred upon him the Ordre de la Couronne, with the rank
of "chevalier".

Charles A. Whitbeck, a driver in Bat. D., 12th Field Artillery,
2nd Div., saw 21 months 15 days of active service and was in most
of the engagements at Chateau Thierry, Soissons, Champagne, St.
Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne. vVhitbeck was with the army
of occupation which marched into Germany, and spent the winter
there. At Soissons on July 21, 1918, Battery D. was between the
2nd and 3rd line backing \ip the French, 1st Moroccan Division.
The position was on low ground and was observed by the Germans
from a high hill. A big barrage was placed on the battery and
they had to retire, leaving the guns. Volunteers were asked for,
two cannoneers and two drivers, including Whitbeck, were chosen.
The Major of the battalion led them in, and one piece and caisson
were rescued.

On May 27, 1919, Whitbeck received the CroLx de Guerre with
silver star. The citation, translated into English, is as follows:
"Upon the approval of the Commander-in-Chief of the American
Expeditionary Forces in France, the Marshal of France, Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Armies of the East, recommends by order
of the Division : Private Charles A. Whitbeck, Battery D, 12th Field
Artillery, 2nd Division: On July 21, 1918, near Vierzy, in the face
of a violent bombardment, he attached a gun-limber to a disabled
field-piece, so that this field-piece could be drawn to the rear".

James Kirwin, who enlisted in the regular army and was
assigned to the 126th Aero Supply Squadron, was on the Tuscania
when she was torpedoed. For some time it was not known in Litch-
field that he was among the survivors. Sergt. Kirwin gives this account
of his experience: "The morning of February 5, the order for life
belts was given. At the time the convoy was in the North Chan-
nel off the Irish coast, the position of the Tuscania was central,
the other ships forming a circle around her. About 5 :30 the order
came, 'troops up on D deck'. At 5:30 there was a terrible shock,
not so much of an explosion, as of a dull blow. The ship seemed
to jump high in the air, and hang there quivering for a time before
it fell back into the water, where it bobbed about very much like
a cork and with a decided list to starboard. The lights went out
at the time of the explosion and the darkness seemed shot with
tongues of fire. The atmosphere seemed dense with a strong odor

258 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

like that of burning celluloid. I had been assigned to No. 9 boat,
but when 1 reached that station I found both 7 and 9 stations
had been blown away, as the torpedo struck directly beneath them.

"Everyone answered a call for volunteers to launch boats. The
men were taken off 7 and 9 stations and for the next two hours
were on the hurricane deck, launching the boats, the last of which
that could be cast off were lowered at 8:15; and there were still
one thousand men on board.

"The water was full of men, some swimming, but many of them
dead or dying. We had about resigned ourselves to going down
with the ship, the men were singing, 'Where do we go from here,
boys', when word was passed to go down on B deck. Of course
we hurried more than is usual in the army. Three destroyers
had returned and had taken off everyone except those who had been
on the boat deck. The cry was 'slide down the rope and keep
your eyes up'. After I reached the destroyer I looked over the
side and saw those who didn't make her. I shall always be sorry
I didn't obey orders".

Kirwin was landed at Buncrana Island, Ireland, suffering with
concussion and was cared for by the British troops stationed there.

It is not possible to give an account of the other Litchfield men
who saw active service overseas. George H. Hunt, the Town Clerk,
has recorded all the discharge papers which have been turned in to
him, but those on file represent only a small part of the number
who went from Litchfield, and the work of the Post Historians has
only just begun.

During those terrible years before we went into the war, when
America was pouring our her wealth to help suffering Europe, her
young men and women were seeking opportunities for personal ser-
vice in the hospitals and in the camps of the Allies.

Three of our Litchfield men did ambulance work in France,
afterwards serving in the A. E. F.: Guy H. Kichards with the
American Ambulance SerAdce; Elmore McNeill Bostwick and Fred-
erick W. Busk with the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Section No. 5,
which was decorated by the French Government.

Kejected on physical grounds by the U. S. A., du Val Allen
joined the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Section No. 646, which was
attached to the famous French "Blue Devils" and to the Moroccan
Division. Allen was hit on the head by a piece of shell and
rendered unconscious for several hours, contracting jiicuinonia from
the exposure, and also narrowly escaped death in a bombed hos-
pital. Section No. 646 was honored four times by the French
Government, receiving the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille Mili-
taire.

Shepherd Knapp, formerly of Litchfield, now a clergyman at
Worcester, Mass., spent a year in France under the Y. M. C. A., for
six months of this time being stationed at Aix-les-Bains, the famous

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 259

resort, which was turned into a "rest-place" for the American
troops, and re-christened by the men, "Aches and Pains".

Archibald M. Richards also gave his services to the Y, M. C. A.
and was stationed at Paris for over a year, as assistant manager
of the hotel run by the "Y" for its secretaries.

In 1916, Willard Parker Lindley spent several months in France
assisting the work for blinded soldiers, under Miss Winifred Holt.

The Litchfield women who served in the war, enlisted under
our own Government, were Marion Crutch and Elsie Koser, army
nurses; Mildred McNeill, reconstruction aid; and Irene Crutch, Mae
Brahen, Clare Brennan and Evelyn Deacon, yeowomen. Elizabeth W.
McNeill was employed as a Civil Service stenographer in the Army.

The women who did war work overseas were: Cecil Cunning-
ham (now Mrs. Alexis Doster), who served for six months as an
auxiliary nurse in the French hospitals; and Amy Richardson
Thurston and Frances Elliot Hickox, who were Y. M. C. A. canteen
workers, their duties including many activities from scrub woman
in the kitchen to cashier in the hut. Miss Hickox remained in
France until after the Armistice, and chaperoned a group of brides,
who had been married to American soldiers, on her return trip
to this country.

The false report on November 7, 1918 that the Germans had
signed the Armistice, which caused so many premature celebrations
all over the country, did not gain credit in Litchfield, thanks to
the editor of the Litchfield Enquirer, who pinned his faith to the
Associated Press. At three o'clock on the morning of November
11, the Torrington factory whistles were heard blowing, and the
news quickly spread that "Der Tag" had come at last. The Court
House bell gave the local signal and soon all the church bells
joined in, ringing out the tidings in a perfect medley of noise.

The firemen manned the chemical engine, and started out on a
procession all over the Borough, a crowd quickly gathered, and
soon about 200 men, women and children were in line, headed by
the Stars and Stripes. They marched down South Street, and at
the invitation of the rector, Mr. Brewster, into St. Michael's church,
where the people with deep emotion, sang together the Doxology and
the national anthem, and gave thanks with grateful hearts that the
long terrible years of conflict were ended at last.

Out again on the Green, a bonfire was built, and while it was
burning brightly impromptu speeches were made. The day dawned,
soft and mellow, as a November day sometimes is. About seven
o'clock there was a little let up for breakfast, but the bells never quite
ceased ringing. The dignified village of Litchfield had a dishevelled
look on that morning, very unlike its usual trim appearance.
Papers, confetti, the remnants of the bonfire littered the center and
plainly showed that the town had been up all night celebrating.

Refreshed by breakfast, every one who could get there, hastened

260 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

to Bantam to join the parade. A band, provided by the forethought
of W. S. Eogers led the procession, which included about sixty
automobiles. Another pause came for the noon-day meal, then
came the Litchfield parade, in which Bantam joined. The marchers
were headed by Frank H. Turkington, and the Home Guard, the
D. A. K., the Red Cross, the fire departments, the Boy Scouts and
the Girl Scouts, the service flag of St. Anthony's carried by young
women, and many automobiles were in line, a coffin dedicated to
the Kaiser was a special feature.

Litchfield's enthusiasm did not spend itself with these demon-
strations, but finished the day with a patriotic "sing" on the Green
in the evening, patriotic speeches and an appeal for the United War
Work Campaign, which was then in progress.

The Armistice was signed, but we soon found that we must
"carry on" a while longer. Bed Cross work was revised to meet the
needs of the destitute people of Europe, and, rejoicing that surgical
dressings were no longer necessary, the workers put their energies
into the making of refugee garments and refugee knitting. The Home
Service Section, under Dr. John L. Buel, was to continue its
work until the very last man had solved his difficulties and been
re-adjusted to civilian life again.

Week after week, some khaki- clad man would appear in the
streets, to be surrounded at once by people anxious to shake his
hand, and to compliment him on his splendid physical condition.
Celebrations occurred, quite spontaneous in character, in the form
of bonfires and bell ringings, as the men returned from overseas.
It was felt that these indi\ddual celebrations were not enough, and
that the whole town should join in welcoming home the men, and
in some permanent form express its appreciation for their services
in the war. Accordingly the chairman of the War Bureau, George
C. Woodruff, appointed a committee to make plans for such a
ceremony, and for a permanent memorial to our men.

It was decided to celebrate the coming Fourth of July as "Wel-
come Home Day" and to erect a monument on the Green, bearing on
a bronze tablet the names of those who served in the war.

The celebration really began with the bonfire in the center, on
the 3rd of July, at midnight, following a custom which dates back
more than half a century. When the morning of the Fourth came,
it proved to be one of those days of which Litchfield is occasionally
guilty, when the temperature registers in the nineties; but because
the day was given over to honoring those who had endured so much,
everyone felt ashamed to complain of mere weather.

The great feature of the day was the parade, which was headed
by First Selectman Patrick C. Burke, Warden George C. Ives, Bur-
gesses Charles Biglow, Dr. C. N. Warner and W. S. Plumb in an
automobile. The veterans of the Civil War followed. Then came

! hi. I'lii \ 1. \t:i: \\\ HrKi

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 261

Major Robert F. Jackson, Marshall, and his aids, preceding the
men in khaki, whom we were honoring. They were 80 strong, and
represented both army and navy. The Boy Scouts acted as escort.
Then followed delegations and floats from all the local organi-
zations; the Red Cross, the Knights of Columbus, St. Anthony's
T. A. & B., the Fire Department, the Grange, and many others.

After the parade came the picnic lunch under the trees, follow-
ing the plan of the previous year. The soldiers were provided with
an ample lunch in the West Park.

In the early afternoon the program of the day was given, with
Admiral Colvocoresses presiding. Mrs. E. H. Sothem recited with
deep feeling the splendid words of the Battle Hymn of the Republic,
and the address was made by Dr. Talcott Williams, Dean of the
Columbia School of Journalism. The great moment of the day
came when the Memorial Monument was unveiled. Instead of a
formal speech of dedication, E. H. Sothem read Alan Seeger's Ode
to American soldiers fallen in France, which had been written for
the celebration of our Fourth by the city of Paris in 1916, by which
time the poet had already added his life to those he commemorated.
The American flag was taken from the monument by the selectmen
in reverent silence, followed by a prayer of dedication by Dr. H. G.
Mendenhall. The ceremony was concluded by the singing of America.

The monument which is erected on the center Green, diagonally
across from the Court House, is of granite, six feet high; and bears
a bronze tablet 45 by 35 inches, with 168 names, ten with the gold
star of supreme sacrifice. Above the names is this inscription:

"In Honor of

The Men of Litchfield

Who Rendered Service In

The World War

1917-1919"

Below the names : "This Tablet is erected by the Town of Litchfield".

The home coming celebration closed with a dance for the sol-
diers in the Lawn Club.

Two Posts of the American Legion, which is an organization of
veterans of the World War, have been formed in our town: the
Morgan-Weir Post named in honor of the first two men to be killed
in action, and in Bantam, a post named in honor of Robert P.
Jeifries.

The story of our town during these years of war, may fittingly
close with mention of the ceremonies held on Washington's Birth
day, 1920, at Colonial Hall, under the auspices of the Morgan- Weir
Post, for the distribution of Certificates issued by the French Gov-
ernment to the families of those Americans who died in the war.

262 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

On the certificates is an engraving- of the moniunent erected by the
French to the memory of our dead. Inscribed on the monument
are the words of Victor Hugo :

"For those who devoutly died for their country

It is right that the people come and pray at their tombs'^

and it was in a spirit of devotion and reverence that the people
of Litchfield gathered together for this service in their memory.

CHAPTER XXIV.

MODEKN LITCHFIELD.
BY DOROTHY BULL,

A subscriber to Punch once wrote in complaint to the editor,
"Punch is not what it once was". "My dear fellow", the editor
replied, "it never has been". The story is a consolation to the
writer of modern history. Forms of life are forever changing, the
forces of life remain much the same, and persist with amazing
vigor through periods of dearth and disaster.

Litchfield's position in the life of the nation has greatly changed
since the days of the Revolution. The development of the manu-
facturing industries of the East, the opening up of the resources of
the West, have shifted the centres of national activity. Yet the
town is in no sense the empty shell of past tradition. It is a
vigorous self-respecting community, making a worthy contribution
to the continuity and strength of American character. In common
with most other American towns, it has changed in the past sixty
years from a homogeneous community, in which the dominant factor
was Anglo-Saxon, to a community in which nearly every nation of
Europe and some of Asia are represented. In this fact are both
opportunity and danger. In so far as the little towns can assimilate
the foreign elements of their population, and maintain wholesome
American traditions and standards of living, so far will the nation
grow in unity and strength.

The recent war has shown us beyond doubt that the American
"melting pot" does not always melt. But it has also shown us
how strong and how sincere have been the pledges of loyalty given
by innumerable adopted sons. It remains for the native born to
keep alive and bright his altar fires, that the immigrant may know
at what shrine he worships.

In times of national crisis, national ideals and the good and
evil forces of national life appear clear cut and vivid. In the
years of peace the greater issues are hidden in the pleasant haze of
a fruitful summer; but it is in the slow process of these years that
the national character takes shape for good or ill.

What of Litchfield in the long years of peace following the
Civil War? It is too soon to estimate the lasting qualities of those
years; but in the brief survey possible here, we may gain
some understanding of the character of the people and the dominant

264 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

elements of the community life. These elements for the past sixty
years may be roughly divided under five heads: The physical char-
acter and climate of the region; the agricultural interest; the sum-
mer colony; the nineteenth century immigrant; and the growth of
community spirit.

The influence of climate on national character is too intricate
a subject to be discussed here. Its influence on the occupation and
resources of Litchfleld people is evident throughout their history.
It does not seem to have changed much during the period of which
we write. In the records of the local papers every third or fourth
winter is a winter of intense cold and heavy snows. On occasion
there are tumultuous freshets in the spring and autumn, carrying
away roads and bridges and flooding low lying meadows. In the
summer there are violent thunder storms, with curious electrical
freaks and an aftermath of burning bams. Between these cata-
clysms of nature stretch long days of golden beauty. The beauty
of the country, the clear freshness of the upland air, have attracted
to Litchfield the summer visitors, who have contributed much to the
material prosperity of the town and not a little to the richness
of its tradition. As Dr. Bostwick has pointed out, Litchfield
has been peculiarly fortunate in having as summer residents peo-
ple who were already attached to her by natural ties of inheritance
or sentiment.

It is of course the physical character and climate also, which
determine the agricultural interests of the community and the
direction they take. These interests are on the whole the most
stable in the community life, and while the farms have frequently
changed hands and markets have shifted, agriculture still remains
the dominant interest of the town. Immediately after the war
there existed a flourishing Agricultural Society, and a horse show
and fairs were held on the ground at the lower end of South Street.
In 1889, the Grange was founded, and has ever since been a source
of education to the community as well as a natural centre of social
enjoyment for people engaged in kindred pursuits. The Harvest
Festivals of the last twenty years, with their exhibits of fruit and
flowers, and the prizes offered to children in the schools for the
best arrangement of Avild flowers, have all contributed to the benefit
of the community; and the masquerades and dramatics have
increased good fellowship.

Besides the numerous small farms in the township, there have
been a number of large enterprises, backed by considerable capital
and able to experiment with thoroughbred stock and scientific horti-
culture. The first of these was Echo Farm, on Chestnut Hill,
bought by F. Ratchford Starr in 1873 and developed as a dairy
farm with thoroughbred Alderney and -Jersey cattle. Starr was
the first man to introduce into America the bottling of milk for
shipment and distribution. There were shipping stations at Ban-
tam and Lake, as well as at Litchfield; and in 1881, four thousand

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 265

quarts were shipped daily from these three stations. In 1886 the man-
agement of this farm was placed in the hands of The Echo Farm
Company. It was later abandoned and in 1910 was bought by
H. S. Chase, of Waterbury, and now furnishes the Chase KoUing
Mills in that town with milk for their operatives. Other large
farms have in the past twenty years made a specialty of choice
fruit and vegetables or thoroughbred cattle. The sight of Dr.
Buel's Bed Devon bull going to the Danbury fair is one not easily
forgotten; and it is not long since North Street was familiar with
the sight of four little girls, each mounted on a Welsh pony of the
Fernwood breed, followed by a groom and the smallest of possible
colts.

Despite the advent of the automobile, there have always been
in Litchfield lovers of horses; but in the eighties and nineties
horses were a ruling passion. Trotting races with sleighs on
North Street were popular in the winter, and in the heyday of the
summer season there was a fashionable driving hour from four until
seven in the afternoon. Favorite drives in the eighties were to
the towers on Mohawk and Ivy Mountains, from which there were
beautiful views. Here cabins had been built with historical relics to
attract the curious, and refreshments were on sale for hungry
youth. The Enquirer gives us a list of the stables kept in 1891;
from which we quote:

J. Deming Perkins
"The Lindens" — Mrs. Perkins' health does not permit her often to avail
of the facilities which the stables at this place possess, but her daughter
Miss Edith, thoroughly enjoys driving her pair of brown cobs, "Derby" and
"Ascot", which she handles with perfect skill, before her Brewster cart. We
noticed a brown roadster "Barney", in one of the commodious stalls.
Livery, dark blue, drab and silver. The stables at this place are most
conveniently arranged, being finished in Georgia pine and black walnut.
Peter Matthews has charge of the establishment. A straw mat made
by the dexterous fingers of Peter, with a border representing the national
colors stretches across the stable immediately in the rear of the iron lat-
ticed stalls, the turned locust posts being finished with "pelicans" in Old
Country style.

Sydney Dillon
President Union Pacific Road, "Vaill Cottage" — Mr. Dillon of late years
has become so attached to Litchfield that he gives a large portion of his
summer to it. He is fond of a good horse, and we notice likes to drive
a different pair each day. Sometimes it is his large team of dapple grays,
with their fine knee action; again he will be seen with his coal black pair,
with their splendid flowing tails, the animals alike as two peas, and not
infrequently with his light stepping cross match, a black and bay. Livery,
dark blue and silver.

J. Mason Hoppin
New Haven — We can scarcely remember ever having seen Mason Hop-
pin on foot except on the occasion when he covered himself with glory in
the baseball match between the married and single men. Not only morning

266 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

and afternoon, but also in the evening he is on the drive with some one of his
three horses. He is seen on the road rigged either single, double or tandem,
but he is in best form when driving his dapple grays, "Dick" and "Tim",
to his Brewster buggy. Peter Scanlan attends to details here.
J. Warren Groddard

New York, "Fernwood" — This stable, the building itself of granite and
a model of convenience, contains a large number and variety of fine car-
riages and horses, perhaps the most stylish turnout among them being Mr.
Goddard's dog cart, hung very high, to which he drives his tandem team,
"Paris" with "Vim" in the lead, and trained to work there, with which he
easily rattles off eight miles an hour over the hills. Mourning livery.
Henry W. Buel, M. D.

Spring Hill — The doctor for many years has raised his own driving
horses, which he has rare facilities for doing on the extensive acres which
comprise his estate. Individually he works his favorite yellow bay. His
daughters, however, drive to a neat phaeton some one or other of the
numerous fine animals in the stables. Frederick Trail has for many years
had control of the stables.

Mrs. John H. Hubbard

This lady, the widow of our late Congressman, can be seen of a pleasant
afternoon on our thoroughfares driving a quiet bay. Her son, John T., the
lawyer, indulges his taste for horseflesh in the line of the Morgan breed, of
which he possesses several fine specimens of growing stock.
Archibald B. Duffie

New York — Mr. Duffie, who is exceedingly fond of horseflesh, has
quartered at Pratt's stable, in charge of Jim Malloy^ four magnificent ani-
mals— a pair of dark bays, a blooded Kentuckian and a sorrel. His stylish
turnouts are almost daily seen on our thoroughfares.
Newcomb C. Barney

New York, "Uplands" — So fine a place as this must needs have a good
stable. Mrs. Barney's carriage is not often seen in the village, but Miss
Barney's neat cart is a daily ornament on the grounds of the Lawn Club.
Livery, blue and silver.

Mrs. Henry B. Coit
Since the removal of her son, Mr. Chas. H. Coit, to Hartford, where he
has entered the firm of Geo. P. Bissell & Co., we have missed him upon
our roads. His sister, Miss Katie, however, thoroughly enjoys a drive
behind her favorite bay.

Mrs. J. William Wheeler

New York, "Belair" — Park phaeton, mahogany bays. Miss Wheeler
drives a pony (rumble) phaeton, drawn by a handsome sorrel pony. Mourn-
ing livery.

Heni-y K. Jones

Brooklyn, N. Y., "Sunnymead" — A pair of dark bays with flowing tails
to a light summer carriage. Mr. Jones, however, is most frequently seen
driving in his favorite natural wood buckboard, to which he works a most
serviceable roadster.

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 267

Mrs. William H. Maxwell

New York, "Kenmore" — Mrs. Maxwell's stables contain several horses,
but her favorite pair is a cross match, a bay and a gray.

Frederick Deming
At this place we found a steady-going family horse, and also a good-
grained saddle pony, on which his son takes daily exercise.
Mrs. William Curtis Noyes
New York — Mrs. Noyes is very regular in her drives, seldom omitting
an afternoon. Her daughter, Mrs. Vanderpoel, is occasionally seen in a
high dog cart. Livery, blue and silver.

The Misses Van Winkle

New York — Very stylish Victoria, yellow bay cobs. Livery, blue and
silver.

The above list by no means comprises all the pleasure equipments of
the village, for we should have mentioned Mrs. Chas. Burrell's splendid bay,
which, when before her stylish phaeton, equals any of the above named ; then
there is Miss Clarissa Pratt, with her black pony "Bucephalus" and Brewster
buggy; Miss Clara Kenney, with her white pony and phaeton, and Mr.
Jesse L. Judd, now one of our retired business men, with his large bay
horse and carriage, and Mr. Chas. B. Bishop and Warden Marsh, each of
whom may be seen on our driveways almost any day.

The liverj- business of the town is mostly done by Pratt's stables, which
work seventy-three horses in the livery department, aside from the extensive
sale stables attached, and Barber Bros., whose stables, though not so extensive,
yield to none in quality of stock.

There were at one time three hotels in the borough and numer-
ous boarding houses, which were well filled. Coaching parties
frequently drove through, and the town must have worn an air of
holiday-making, both gay and charming.

It is pleasant to think of the Victorian ladies of the sixties and
seventies who played croquet or practiced archery in East Park,
or in the eighties watched the four young gallants, who inspired by
Mason Hoppin, endeavored to graft polo on the American stock.
Canoeing also came in at this period; lawn tennis was played on
private courts and a club was projected, which later developed into
the Lawn Club on West Street, for many years the scene of tennis
tournaments for the Connecticut state championship.

It is interesting to note the changing fashion in amusements
and outdoor sports. The first velocipede came in 1869, but the
bicycle fever did not reach its height until the nineties. In 1893,
E. G. Trowbridge, of Torrington, is said to have ridden three hun-
dred miles by bicycle in two days. In 1896, there were two hun-
dred bicycles owned in Litchfield and in the following year a bicycle
club was formed. Baseball of course was always popular among
all the elements of the community, though it could not have been
a fine art in the latter sixties, as in 1866, we find recorded a game
in which the score was 77 to 16. In 1870, there existed a Tar and
Gamboge Baseball Club of which four members were colored and
there were at various times nimaerous teams in the town together

268 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

with many unorganized aspirants, so that we find in the papers
many complaints of ball playing on the green.

The winter also was not without its amusements. In the seven-
ties, they were less sophisticated than those of a later period.
Spelling matches were much in vogue among the older people as
well as the young ones and there were even competitions between
towns. It is particularly interesting to discover that in 1883,
roller skating was the popular amusement. Armory Hall was
used as a rink and fancy skaters came to perform there. In 1886,
a Toboggan Club was established by some of the young people of
the town and a slide was built on Prospect Hill. The young people
of outlying towns as far away as Woodbury shared in this sport.
On one occasion, a fete was held at the slide with rockets, bombs,
torches and Chinese lanterns, and supper was afterwards served
at Armory Hall. Sleighing and ice skating were always popular
when the season served and at various times hockey teams were
organized which practiced on the Mill Pond and occasionally played
matches with other organizations from neighboring towns. Skiing
and snow-shoeing have also had their devotees and have sometimes
been necessary by virtue of the severe weather. One of the most
remarkable trips on snow shoes taken by a Litchfield man was that
of Alex Baldwin in the blizzard of February, 1902. He came by train
from Hartford to Terryville, on snow shoes from Terryville to Thom-
aston, by train to East Litchfield and on snow-shoes home.

Pishing and hunting are always open in season to the country-
dweller. Football has held intermittent sway but has never claimed
great popularity in Litchfield. In the early nineties, a hare and
hound club was organized and herein was heralded the coming
of the new woman, for "the young ladies adopted a dress which
made it possible for them to cross streams and climb fences". The
runs of the club were sometimes as much as eight miles. In the
latter nineties, golf came in and has continued with varying popu-
larity, to the present day. "Paper Chases" on horse-back were also
popular for a brief period, in the last decade. There has always
been much sociability and many clubs of various sorts have sprung
into existence. Among these the Sanctum on South Street holds
a distinctive place. In the nineties there was an extremely active
and clever Dramatic Club, and an excellent minstrel troupe. Other
dramatic entertainments have centered in the Grange, in societies
of the various Churches and in sporadic benefit performances for
some general interest of the moment. It is a study in modes and
manners to look over the programs. In these days of "Jazz", we
may sigh for the halcyon days of Pinafore; but "Curfew shall not
ring tonight" is a Avorld well lost. There were also at one time a
drum corps and a band, and much interchange of hospitality with
similar organizations in other towns. The singing club concerts
conducted by Mr. Arthur Woodruff of Washington, in which Wash-
ington and Litchfield have united in giving concerts, have been

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 269

unique and popular entertainments for fifteen years. Dancing we
have always had with us. It has passed through many phases from
the waltz mania of the seventies, through the "Germans" of the
eighties, the two-steps of the nineties, the fox-trots of the twentieth
century. Nor has the town been wholly dependent upon its own
resources for entertainment. Traveling circuses have set up their
tents on the ball ground, and traveling troupes and shows have been
until recently frequent visitors at Phelps' Opera House or Armory
Hall. Now the ubiquitous "movie" has replaced them, both in
Litchfield and Bantam.

Bantam brings us at once to the new element in Litchfield's
development. It is the growth of the manufacturing industry there
that has added so much in recent years to the foreign population
of the township, though the Irish were, of course, the first of the
"nineteenth century immigrants" to come to Litchfield in any large
numbers. The building of St. Anthony's Church in 1867 shows that
they were by that time a well established part of the community.
From that time on, in their growing prosperity in trade, in the fairs
for the church, their minstrel shows and St. Patrick's Day dances,
they have made their definite contribution to the community life.
In 1898, a minstrel joke was current in the town. "Where was
Litchfield a hundred years ago? In Ireland, the greater part of
it". In 1879 a gang of Italian laborers was employed on the
Goddard farm, and about ten years later others came to work on
the new water system. Whether or not any of these men remained
as permanent residents, this was the beginning of further changes
in the population of the town. There are now many Italians in
Litchfield, contractors, laborers and operatives; and of late a num-
ber of Slavs have come to work in the factories at Bantam and
in some cases on farms. There have been for many years several
families of German and Scandinavian origin; the first Chinaman
appeared in 1877; and there are now several Greeks. So much for
the typical New England community of the twentieth century.

Dr. Bostwick has spoken of the growth of community feeling and
public spirit in the last half centuiy. It is interesting to trace
it in its various manifestations.

It is natural that one of the first community enterprises after
the Civil War should have been the plan to erect a suitable memorial
to the dead. This monument, referred to in Chapter 21, was erected
on the green in 1874. In 1894 a soldiers' monument was also erected
in the West Cemetery, and later a granite "marker" Avas set up on
Chestnut Hill to mark the site of Camp Dutton, where the men
encamped before leaving for the scene of war. For many years the
Seth F. Plumb Post of the Grand Army held festivals on the anni-
versary of Lee's surrender and suitable ceremonies on Memorial Day.
As their numbers decreased the reunions on "Appomatox Day" were
abandoned; and while they continued to keep Memorial Day, it was
perhaps natural, that to the general public it should become merely

270 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

another holiday, so that in the same year in which the monument
was erected in West Cemetery an entertainment was given on this
day at which a farce was presented. About twenty years later a
different feeling arose, and a Memorial Day Association was formed
to plan suitable ceremonies for the day, which has recently regained
its old significance.

One of the earliest enterprises after the war was the Shepaug
Valley Kailroad. The charter was applied for in 1866, and the Town
in 1868 subscribed for a block of the stock. In 1872 trains were
running, but were discontinued for repairs in March. The time-
table at this period scheduled trains to leave Litchfield at 8:30 and
arrive at Hawleyville at 11:30, at which point they connected with
the Housatonic Kailroad. The length of the journey, how-
ever, does not seem to have disturbed the patrons of the new
road, for in 1879 excursions to Coney Island by boat from Bridge-
port were popular. In these days of motors the glory of the rail-
roads has faded, but in 1894 the "parlor car" run for the summer
passenger service, is glowingly described in the Enquirer. Its
woodwork was of quartered oak, its upholstery a "beautiful light
blue". Litchfield never knew the intermediate stage of rapid
transit between the steam railroad and the automobile. Agitation
for a trolley connection from Torrington or the towns further south
to Bantam Lake occurred frequently; but the project was always
defeated. With the coming of the cheap automobile we are made
safe from such an invasion.

The telegraph came to Litchfield permanently in the seventies,
the telephone in the eighties. The part the latter has played in
knitting the community together is a large one. Not only has it
made easy the neighborly visits by telephone which are possible in
a rural community where wires are not perpetually busy; but it
has made us increasingly conscious of ourselves as units in a group.

Of other public improvements, Dr. Bostwick has also spoken;
the increased tidiness of the village, the labors of the Village
Improvement Society for good walks, drainage and lighting. All
these things were in good time attained through the efforts of public
spirited people.

Schools have always held an important place in Litchfield life.
A number of successful private institutions have existed here, but
in a community of this size and character the chief interest must
and should centre in the public schools. The improvement of the
school system was much discussed in the eighties, and the need of
a new school building in the Village. Then came the disastrous
fires of 1886 and 1888. The first, beginning in the wooden build-
ings on South and West Streets swept westward and was stopped
at a brick building thirty feet west of the Court House. With no
organized Fire Department, and no water supply but the neighbor-
ing wells, the people energetically fought the fire, protecting them-
selves from the heat by wet umbrellas. The loss, only partially

Mk. Jiihx Akkxt \'

AXDHKl'MKl.

Thk Woi.cott and Litchfiki.Ii CiRrur.ATtxG Library. 1900,

AND THE Sir.X-PoST El.M

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 271

covered by insurance, was about $60,000; and (what more nearly
touched the local pride) the temporary removal of the Courts. The
school-house was also destroyed, so the question of a new building was
settled, and the present site on East Street bought, and shortly
after built upon. Temporary baiTacks were erected for the

merchants, rebuilding was begun at once, a brick block erected and
the motto was ''business as usual". The new buildings had been
completed only a few months when the second fire swept over the
business area spared two years earlier and also destroyed the newly
erected Court House.

In the following year the installation of the Avater system was
begun, a Fire Company was organized, and in 1891 the company was
assembled to test the new mains. Then Mr. Deming Perkins came as
usual to the fore and presented to the Borough the use of a
beautifully equipped building, to serve not only as a shelter for the
apparatus but as a club for the men. A pool room, reading room
and even a hospital were provided, and the Fire Department has
been ever since not only a protection to the town but a source of
enjoyment to its members and to the community at large. For a
number of years a weather bureau signal station was also main-
tained at this building and the weather flags were familiar to the
people of the town. Pool matches, bowling contests, parades and
entertainments have originated there, and it is even claimed that the
exchange of hospitality with Kew Milford's Hose Company did much
to alleviate the slight tension caused by rival claims of the towns
concerned to the honor of being the County Seat. A few years
ago the efficiency of the Department was further increased by the
gift of a motor chemical engine, presented by Mrs. Godfrey and
Miss Coe.

In 1862 a reading room had been established in the town with
a membership fee of $5.00 a year. This was called the Litchfield
Library Association, but when Mr. J. Huntington Wolcott, of Boston,
father of Governor Roger Wolcott, generously contributed $300. for
the purchase of books, the name was changed to the Wolcott Library
Association. The Wolcott family's interest in the library was mani-
fested also by other generous gifts at various times. In 1870 a
circulating library was started independently, with a handful of
books. In 1881. through the courtesy of Mr. George C. Woodruff,
the two libraries were sheltered under a common roof in two rooms
of "the brick building" on South Street. Ten years later the pres-
ent commodious library building was planned and presented to these
associations by Mr. John A. Vanderpoel, as a memorial to his
grandmother, Mrs. William Curtis Noyes. He did not live to see
it finished. In 1003. the two libraries were merged under the
name of The Wolcott and Litchfield Circulating Library Associa-
tion. Since that time Miss Katharine Baldwin has been Librarian,
and it is largely due to her judgment and faithful work that the
librarv ranks as a model of what the public library' of a small

272 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

village should be. There have been many generous gifts to the
association, notably the Maghee Memorial of $10,000. presented by
Mr. William Colgate, and the Repair Fund of $3,500, raised by Mr.
Abbott Foster, who devoted much of his energy to the improvement
of the library. In 1907 a wing was added to the library build-
ing by Mrs. Vanderpoel to complete the plan projected by her
son. In the wing are housed the collections of the Litchfield
Historical and Scientific Societies. Other societies which have
contributed to the broadening of community interest are the
Daughters of the American Revolution, the Men's and Women's
Forums, the Garden Club and the Needle and Bobbin Club. The
jMary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution was organized about twenty years ago and has been
active in collecting records, preserving relics of our revolutionary
and colonial history, holding exhibits and aiding and abetting other
organizations in undertakings to further the public good. The two
Forums, founded respectively in 1910 and 1914, have served to stimu-
late the exchange of opinion and ciystalize their common thought.
The Garden Club, which is only a few years old, besides encourag-
ing an interest in gardening, has shared in various measures for
beautifying the town, and has recently become the manager of the
old club on West Street, which it is to control as a Playhouse for
the benefit of the community. The Needle and Bobbin Club, which
is younger still, is collecting examples of the arts of the needle and
bobbin, and offering prizes in the schools for skill in these arts.

Other organizations of a slightly different character contribut-
ing to the common good, are the Litchfield County Farm Bureau, and
the District Nursing Association. The Farm Bureau was estab-
lished in 1914. Its objects as stated in its constitution are: "to
promote the development of the most profitable and permanent
system of agriculture; the most wholesome and satisfactory living
conditions; the highest ideals in home and community life; and a
genuine interest in the farm business and rural life on the part
of the boys and girls and young people". The Nursing Association
was founded a few years earlier largely through the efforts of Miss
Harriet M. Richards. In 1914 it affiliated with the Public Health Ser-
vice of the Red Cross. It has done much excellent work in dissemin-
ating information, providing relief and instituting medical inspection
in the schools ; and it supports a nurse who does public health nurs-
ing throughout the township at a very moderate fee. When Mrs.
Philip Hubbard and Miss Adelaide Deming organized the Domestic
Science classes in the school, the Nursing Association cooperated
with them to make possible the hot school luncheon for the children.
When the influenza epidemic struck Litchfield in the autumn of
1918, Miss Richards, ably seconded by her colleagues in the asso-
ciation, secured permission to use the new Country Club as a
hospital, borrowetl beds and bedding, secured extra nurses, and Con-
centratetl there the patients, who otherwise would liiive been scat-

■sr,

^- \i-- \-.v, ,Kv (-....ia,;, I'. (■..-■,, ,,KK^M->. (Rcti;-fl;

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 273

tered about the township, inadequately cared for, because of the sheer
physical diflficulties of the situation. On this occasion Miss Miriam
Hubbard did yeoman service by supplementing the inadequate kit-
chen of the club, cooking food daily at home and sending it to the
hospital, while many other people contributed their services in
numerous ways. In the days before America's entry into the war
and the direction of all energies to war service, the association also
stood sponsor for a "Community Centre", at which numerous classes
were conducted by a number of volunteer workers. This activity
ceased when war was declared.

Through the good will of some of her residents, Litchfield has also
been a centre for welfare enterprises of a general nature. In 1900,
Miss Mary Buel left her property on the Goshen road to the organiza-
tion now known as the Connecticut Junior Republic. Original!}' a
branch of the institution at Freeville, N. Y., the Connecticut Republic
has thriven and prospered through the interest and generosity of its
friends. The object of the Republic is to train boys for citizen-
ship through the practise of self-goverimient under wise super-
vision. Litchfield people have always been interested in the Repub-
lic and there is a Litchfield Aid which contributes to its support.
The students of the summer camp of the Columbia School of Mines
at Bantam Lake have for a number of years given entertainments
at Litchfield for its benefit; and there have been notable private con-
tributions. Among these are the excellent and attractive build-
ings erected in 1916-1917, for which Mr. Cass Gilbert contributed
the plans, and the expenses of building were met by Mr. William
Colgate and Mr. Roswell P. Angier of New Haven.

We have spoken of the years between the Civil and European
Wars as fifty years of peace. They were however broken by the
brief excitement and passing anxiety of the war with Spain. The
Red Cross was of course active in relief. The number of Litchfield
men in military service is not accurately known. Gail Beckwith
and Edward Wilson enlisted. Daniel Hine and James O'Rourke
were with the regulars. Harold and George Colvocoresses served.
Major Wessells who distinguished himself at Santiago, was of
Litchfield parentage. But the chief pride of Litchfield in the war was
the distinguished service of Admiral — then Lieutenant-Commander —
George P. Colvocoresses, who was executive oft'icer of the Concord at
Manila Bay. He was later transferred to the Olympia and returned
to America Avith Admiral Dewey in the autumn of 1899. His return
to Litchfield was a gala occasion for the town. The people pre-
sented him with a sword, and though he had made the re<iuest that
the ceremonies might be "as simple as possible", the town held
high holiday. Houses were gay with flags and bunting, salutes
were fired, there was a bonfire, a parade and appropriate speeches;

274 THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD

and in the evening serenades by the band, illuminations and fire-
works. A memorial oak was planted by the Admiral with a silver
trowel, ordered for the occasion by Miss Mary P. Quincy.

In the course of sixty years many people have come and gone
in Litchfield; new houses have been built and old ones altered and
restored, and many have changed hands. Of all the houses built
in this time none perhaps was more picturesquely begun than that
of Miss Mary Quincy, for which the corner stone was laid with
ceremony, and beneath which is buried a box containing family
papers and heirlooms.

Of the people who lived in the houses it is difficult for the
present writer to speak. There are many people now living in the
town who knew and loved them, and to whom the distinguished men
and gracious women and all the undistinguished eager life of the
time is not something written in a book, but a keen and vivid
memory. Yet here and there in the printed word we find some
glimpse of the living spirit. When Deming Perkins died "all the
bells tolled for him". A friend of Mrs. Noyes wrote, "The roses
in her garden and every good cause will miss her". Against the
background of changing events we see in the records of the day, the
distinguished figures of George C. Woodruff, Judge Origen S. Sey-
mour, Judge Edward W. Seymour, Governor Charles B. Andrews
and the winning personality of Dr. Henry Buel. Those of us fortunate
enough to remember Mrs. Edward Seymour dancing the "first dance"
in a room full of young people, will long delight in that memory of
grace and distinction. Nor shall we forget the delicate vivacity
of Mrs. Storrs Seymour or Dr. Seymour's unaffected kindliness.
Old age in Litchfield is a gracious thing and many people have lived
in vigor beyond the four score years allotted. Golden weddings
have been frequent. In the Woodruff and Seymour families there
were six such anniversaries between 1879 and 1919. The first
was that of Mr. and Mrs. George C. Woodruff. Mrs. Woodruff was
the sister of Judge Origen S. Seymour and Mrs. SejTnour of Mr.
Woodruff. In 1880 Judge and Mrs. Seymour kept their anniver-
sary. In 1910 Mr. and Mrs. George M. Woodruff celebrated theirs;
in the following year Dr. and Mrs. Storrs O. Seymour; in 1913,
Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Woodruff and in 1919, Mr. and Mrs. Morris
W. Seymour.

Greek legend tells us that there were once two old people, true
lovers, to whom the gods were kind, and when they had come to old
age they were turned into trees, to bear winter and summer together
and shelter forever the home they had loved. It is far from Litch-
field Hill to the slopes of Parnassus. Yet in Litchfield, also, the
trees bear witness to the spirit of the men who were here before
us, who planted the young saplings and dreamed of beauty.

The two hundred years of Litchfield's history are only an eddy

Mmri.m- W Sl■.^•MMl

THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD 275

in the wind that blows down the years. What our time shall add
to that record is as yet uncertain. Yet human life is forever a
miracle. Our lives are touched by the spirits of the past,

"And the joy we felt Avill be a part of the glory

In the lover's kiss that makes the old couple's story".

APPENDIX

FLORENCE ELIZABETH ENNIS

ETHEL M. SMITH

assisted by

ELIZABETH K. COIT

Table of Contents

A. HONOR ROLL

1. Last French War 1762

2. War of the Revolution 1775-1783

3. Civil War 1861-1865

4. European War (1914) 1917-1918

B. CLERGYMEN.

1. Congr^ational Church.

2. Protestant Episcopal Church

3. Methodist Episcopal Church

4. Baptist Church

5. Roman Catholic Church

C. U. S., STATE, JUDICIAL, COUNTY AND TOWN OFFICIALkS

1. a. United States Senators from Litchfield
h. Members of Congress.

2. a. Governors of Connecticut

b. Members of the Council

c. Members of the State Senate

d. Representatives

e. Delegates to Constitutional Conventions

3. a. Judges of Superior Court and Supreme Court of Errors

b. Chief Justices of Supreme Court of Errors

c. Presiding Judges of Court of Common Pleas

d. Associate Judges of Court of Common Pleas

e. Judges of Court of Common Pleas

f. Judges of Probate

g. Commissioners of Superior Court
h. Justices of the Peace

5. a. Sheriffs of the County

b. Clerks of the Superior Court

c. County Treasurers

d. Prosecuting Attorneys

e. County Commissioners

6. a. Selectmen; b. Town Clerks; c. Town Treasurers;
d. Postmasters.

D. CIVIL LISTS

1. Original Proprietors

2. First Settlers

3. Selected List of Students at Law School vidth Offices held.

E. BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAI^1920.

F. ORGANIZATIONS OF LITCHFIELD ACTIVE IN 1920

G. LIST OF HOUSES AND STORES IN THE BOROUGH
H. PATENT OF THE TOWN OF LITCHFIELD

APPENDIX

281

A. HONOR ROLL.

1. Last French War.

The following names are copied from "A Pay-Roil for Capt.
Archibald McNeile's Company, in the Second Regiment of Connecti-
cut Forces, for the year 17G2", which is on file in the Secretary's
Oflfice, Hartford. It is not to be inferred that all the members of
Captain McNeil's company belonged in Litchfield. Some in the
list are recognized as residents of neighboring towns.

Archibald McNeil, Capt.

Isaac Moss, ist Lieut.

Increase Moseley, 2nd Lieut.

Elisha Blinn, Ensign

Thomas Catlin, Sergt.

Nathaniel Taylor, Sergt.

Bezaleel Beebe, Sergt.

Hezekiah Lee, Sergt.

Archibald McNeil Jr., Serg^.

Roger Catlin, Corp.

William Drinkwater, Corp.

Nathan Stoddard, Corp.

James Lassly, Corp.

Daniel Barnes, Drummer

Jacob Bartholomew, Drummer

Charles Richards

Samuel Warner

Samuel Gipson

Joseph Jones

John Barrett

John Barrett Jr.

William Forster

Francis Mazuzan

Thomas Wedge

Reuben Smith

Jeremiah Osborn

Benjamin Landon

Isaac Osborn

Robert Coe

Adam Mott

Asahel Hinman

Roswell Fuller

Daniel Grant

William Emons

Moses Stoddard

Gideon Smith

Hezakiah Leach

Adam Hurlbut

Jeremiah Harris

Eli Emons
Alexander Waugh
Orange Stoddard
Ezekiel Shepard
Ozias Hurlbut
Daniel Harris
John Collins
Solomon Palmer
Jonathan Smith.
Jonathan Phelps
John Cogswell
Mark Kenney
Aaron Thrall
Timothy Brown
Roswell Dart
William Bulford
James Manville
Benjamin Bissell
David Nichols
Ichabod Squire
Comfort Jackson
Elisha Walker
Amos Broughton
Nathaniel Lewis
Levi Bonny
Thomas Barker
Samuel Drinkwater
Asahel Gray
Eliakim Gibbs
Samuel Peet
Ephraim Smedley
Edmund Hawes
Silas Tucker
Robert Bell
Thomas Sherwood
Ephraim Knapp
Titus Tyler
Thomas Williams
Justus Seelye

282 APPENDIX

James Francier Thomas Ranny

George Peet Daniel Hamilton

Nathaniel Bamum Asahel Hodge

Adonijah Roice Daniel Warner

Elisha Ingraham Titus Tolls

Daniel Hurlbut John Ripner

Ebenezer Blackman Caleb Nichols

Domini Douglas John Fryer

Amos Tolls Ebenezer Pickett

2. War of the Kevolution, 1775-1783.

The following list is taken from the Honor Roll of Litchfield
County Eevolutionary Soldiers, published in 1912 by the Mary
Floyd Tallmadge Chapter, D. A. R., under the editorship of Miss
Josephine Ellis Richards. The authorities for the service of each
man will be found in that monumental work, and are therefore not
repeated here. The various cemeteries in the township where cer-
tain of the men are known to have been buried have been added.
These names have been obtained since the publication of the Honor
Roll, by another committee of the Mary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter,
of which Miss Cornelia Buxton Smith was the chairman. The
abbreviations are as follows: B. for Bantam, E. for East, F. for
FootvUle, H. for Headquarters, M. for Milton, Mo. for Morris, N. for
Northfield, W. for West

*Lived elsewhere at the time of the war; fPrison Ship Martyr;
:tPrison Ship Survivor.

Adams, Col. Andrew (W) Barns, Sergt. Enos (F)

Africa, Cash Bams, Enos 2d

Agard, Hezekiah Barns, Enos 3d

Alcock, Giles Bams, Moses

♦Allen, Gen, Ethan Bams, Orange (F)

*Allen, Heman Bates, Ephraim

Allen, John (E) Batterson, Stephen

f Allen, Nathaniel *Beach, Barnias

Aston, Sergt Elida Beach, Maj. Miles

Atwell, Oliver Beach, Miles

Bacon, Ebenezer f Beach, Noah (W)

Bacon, Nathaniel Beach, Wait

Baldwin, Abner Beach, Zophar

Baldwin, Ashbel (Mo.) Beebe, Col. Bezaleel (W)

Baldwin, Isaac (E) Beecher, Burr (N)

Baldwin, James (E) Bend, John

Baldwin, Samuel W. Benton, Belah

Barns, Ambrose Benton, Nathaniel (W)

Barns, Amos Bill, Elijah

Barns, Benjamin Bingham, Ozias

Barns, Daniel Birge, Benjamin (H)

APPENDIX

283

Birge, Beriah (H)
Birge, James (M)
Bishop, Luman
Bissell, Archelaus (W)
Bissell, Benjamin Sr. (W)
Bissell, Sergt. Benjamin
Bissell, Calvin (W)
Bissell, John (M)
Bissell, Luther (W)
+Bissell, Zebulon (W)
Blake, Richard
Blakesley, Samuel (N)
Bottom, John
Bradley, Aaron (E)
Bradleyi, Capt. Abraham
*Bradley, Daniel (E)
*Bradley, Capt. Phineas

Bricks, John (Breck)

Bristol, Isaac

Brown, Joseph
*Buel, Asahel

Buel, Isaac

Buel, Jonathan

Buel, Salmon (W)

Buel, Solomon (W)

Buell, Lieut. Peter (E)

Bull, Lieut Aaron

Bull, Asa (W)

Bull, George

Burnham, Asa

Burnham, Wolcott

Burr, Aaron

Byer, Return

Canfield, Abial
*Camp, Abel (Mo.)

Camp, Eldred
*Camp, Ezra (Mo.)

Catlin, Abel

Catlin, Capt. Alexander

Catlin, Ashbel

Catlin, Bradley

Catlin, David

Catlin, Capt. Eli

Catlin, George

Catlin, Isaac (M)

Catlin, Phineas

Catlin!, Putnam
Catlin, Samuel

(Jatlin, Capt Theodore
Catlin, Lieut Thomas Jr. (E)
Catlin, Uriah (N)
Chamberlin, William
Champion, Rev. Judah (E)
Chase, Sergt Lot (W)
Churchill, Oliver
*Clark, Abel (Mo.)
Cleaveland, Diah (Dyer)
Clemmonds, Abijah
Cluff, Isaac (Clough)
Coe, Levi (W)
Coe, Zachariah
Collens, Charles (Mo.)
*Collins, Cyprian
Columbus, James
Colyer, Joseph
Cone, Lieut. Abner
Cook, Oliver
Cowl, John
Cramton, Elon (E)
Crampton, Lieut. James (Cram-
ton) (E)
Crampton, Lieut Neri
Craw, Reuben
Crosby, Simon
Culver, Abel

Culver, Ashbel (Asabel)

Culver, Reuben
*Culver, Solomon

Curtis, Zarah

Davis, Samuel
*Dear, George 2nd
*Deming, Julius (E)

Dennison, Chauncey (H)

DeWol4 Levi (Mo.)

Dickinson, Friend

Dickinson, Oliver (M)

Dixon, George

Douglas, Col. William

Emmonds, Arrings

Emons, A. (Abner or Arthur)
(Mo.)

Emons, Isaac

Emons, Phineas (Mo.)

Emons, William

Fancher, Rufus

Farnam, Corp. John (Mo.)

APPENDIX

Farnam, Seth (Mo.)

Fitch, Ebenezer

Foote, Capt. Aaron

Fox, Aaron

Frost, Joel

Galpin, Amos (W)

Garnsey, Noah, (Guernsey) (N)
*Gatta, John I.
*Gay, Lieut Col. Ebenezer
*Gay, Col. Fisher

Gibbs, Aaron

Gibbs, Lieut. Benjamin (Mo-lk

Gibbs, Eliakim
f Gibbs, Gershom

Gibba, Gershom Jr.
•f-Gibbs, Isaac

Gibbs, Ithamar

Gibbs, Lemuel (Mo.)

Gibbs, Moore (More, Moah) (M)

Gibbss Oliver

Gibbs, Remembrance

Gibbs, Simeon

Gibbs, Solomon (W)

Gibbs, Sergt. Spencer

Gibbs, Timothy
*Gibbs, Trumpeter Truman
*Gibbs, Capt. Wareham

Gibbs, William

Gibbs, William Jr.

Gibbs, Zadok (Zadock)

Gibbs, Zebulon

Gilbert, Asa

Gilbert, Sergt. Joseph

Guilbert, Abner (Gilbert)

Gillett, Asa

Gillett, Sergt. John

Gillett, Othniel

Goff> Joseph

Goodrich, William
*Goodwin, Jesse

Goodwin, Sergt. Joseph

Goodwin, Capt. Nathaniel (Mo.)

Goodwin, Sergt. Nathaniel Jr. (Mo.)

Goodwin, Ensign Ozias (W)
fGoodwin, Phineas

Goodwin, Solomon

Goodwin, Uri (Mo.)

Goodwin, Corp. William

Goslee, Solomon (B)

Gould, John

Grant, Ambrose (E)

Grant, Elihu

Grant, Isaac

Grant, Lieut Jesse

Grant Joel
*Grant, Roswell

Graves, Alexander

Graves, Ezekiel

Graves, Sylvanus

Green, Jacob

Griflfis, Corp. James

Griswold, Jacob

Griswold, James (W)

Griswold, John (M)

Griswold, Jonathan (F)

Griswold, Midian (B)
fHall, Sergt. David

Hall, John (M)

Hall, William 3rd (Mo.)

Hamilton/ George

Hand, Timothy
*Hanks, Benjamin

Harrison, Daniel

Harrison, David (Mo.)

Harrison, Sergt Elihu (Mo.)

Harrison, Jacob

Harrison, Lemuel

Harrison, Solomon

Harrison, Thomas Jr., (Mo.)

Hart Tucker

Haskin (s), Abraham

Hawley, Peter

Hays, Elijah

Hays, Zenas

Heath, Thomas

Henshaw, William Jr.

Herick, Amos

Hitchcock, Abel

Hodgkis (Hotchkiss?), Samuel

Holcomb, Phineas

Hopkins, Harris (N)

Horsford, Isaac
»Horton, Elisha (B)

Hotchkiss, Sergt Stephen

Hough, Thadeus
*Hunt Russell

APPENDIX

285

Jackson, Jonathan
Jennings, William
f Johnson, Sergt. Amos (Mo.)

Johnson, Benjamin (B)
*Johnson, Eliphalet
Johnson, John
Johnson, Rufus
Johnson, Zechariah
Jones, Lieut. Eaton (E)
Jones, Harris
Jones, Samuel
Judson, Jacob
Keeney, Mark
Kelcy, Peter
Kelley, John
Kent, Darius
Kilborn, Abraham
Kilborn, David (B)
Kilbournv Giles (W)
Kilbourn, Jehiel
*Kilbourn, Capt. John
Kilbourn, Joseph
Kilbourn, Roswell
Kilbourn, Samuel
King, Sergt. David
Kirby, Lieut. Ephraim
Knapp, Sergt. Jared
*Lamson, Daniel (Mo.)
Landen, Daniel (W)
Landon, Ebenezer
Landon. Hazia
Landon. James
Landon, Reuben
Landon, Seth (W)
Laraby, Asa
Laraby, Willet

Lerow, John, (Lerrow, Larow)
Lewis. Benjamin
Lewis, Ezekiel
Lewis, Capt. John
Lewisk Joseph
Lewis, Sergt. Nathaniel
Lewis, William
Linsley, Abiel
Linsley, Solomon
Linsley, Timothy
:}:Little, James
Little, Fifer Samuel

Little, William

Lord, Lynde (W)
•j-Lyman, John

Manjent, Nicholas
* Mansfield, Capt. Joseph (Mo.)

Marsh, Capt. John (E)
-{■Marsh, Timothy

Marshall, Elisha
fMarshall, Oliver

Mason, Ashbel

Mason, Elisha (E)

Mason, John

Mason, Lieut. Jonathan

Mason, Joseph (N)

Mason, Corp. Luther
:j:Mason, Thomas

Mazuzen, Mark

McDaniel, Anthony

Mclntire, Henry

McNeil, Adam

McNiel, Archibald Jr. (E)
fMcNiel, Alexander 3d (E)

Meleck, Ebed

Merrill, Nathaniel (Nathan)

Mix, Eli

Morris, Capt. James (Mo.)

Morris, Richard

Moss, Levi (Levy) (N)

Moss, Linos

Moulthrop, Moses

Munger, Daniel

Negro, George

Negro, Jack

Norton, John
*Odell, William

Olcott, Giles
fOlmstead, Capt. David

Orton, Azariah

Orton, Darius

Orton, Eliada

Orton, Gideon

Orton, Lemuel

Orton, Samuel

Osborn, Ethan

Osborn, Isaac (W)

Osborn, Jeremiah

Osborn, Capt. John (W)

Osborne, Capt. Eliada (W)

286

APPENDIX

Owen, Thomas
Page, Abel
Page, Asa
Page, Daniel (M)
Palmer, Benjamin
Palmer, Chileon
Parmeley, Lieut, Amos
Parmeley, Joel (Parmelee)
f Parmeley, John (Parmelee)
•f Parmeley, Solomon (Parmelee)
Parker^ Isaac

Parker, Dr. Joseph (Mo.)

Parsons, Eliphaz (M)

Peck, Ashabel (Mo.)

Peck, Elijah

Peck, John Jr. (F)

Peck, Levi

Peck, Moses

Peck, Paul (W)

Peck, Philo (W)

Peck, Reeve

Phelps, Edward 3d, (E)

Phelps, John (E)

Phillips, Gideon

Pierce, John

Pilgrim, Thomas (W)

Plant, Stephen (W)

Plant, Timothy

Plumb (e), Ebenezer

Plumb, Henry

Pond, Beriah

Post, Corp. Ward

Potter, Joel (H)

Price;, Paul
*Ranney, Maj. Stephen

Ray, William (Mo.) .

Reeve, Tapping (E)

Rich, Amos

Rich, Caesar

Riggs, Corp. Jeremiah

Roberts, Thomas

Robins, John

Rogers, Joseph

Ross, Simeon

Rosseter, Samuel

Russell, John

Royal, John

Sacket, Buel

Sales, WiUiam
Sanford, Jonah (Mo.)
San ford, Joseph (Mo.)
Sanford, Moses
Sanford, Oliver
Sanford, Solomon
Sanford, Zaccheus
Seelye, Benjamin
Seelyci, David
Seelye, Ebenezer
Seelye, John
Seelye, Seth
Seelye, Zadok

Seymour, Maj. Moses (E)
Seymour, Capt. Samuel (W)
*Sheldon, Col. Elisha (W)
Sheldon, Thomas
Shelley, John (Alias Kelley)
Shethar, Capt. John
Simpson, John
Smith, Gen. David (E)
*Smith, Ensign Eli (E)
Smith, Elisha
Smith, Henry
Smith, Sergt. Jacob (N)
Smith, John (E)
Smith, Jonathan Jr.
Smith, Joshua Jr.
Smith, Moses
Smith, Nathaniel
Smith, Dr. Reuben (W)
Smith, Stephen
Spencer, Ephraim (W)
Sperry, Enoch
Stanard, Samuel
Stanley, Earl
f Stanley, Timothy
Stanton, Capt. William
Stevenson, Adam
Stewart, Daniel
Stocker, Thadeus
fStoddard, Aaron
Stoddard, Capt. Bryant (Mo.)
Stoddard, Lieut. David (W)
Stoddard, Daniel (B)
Stoddard, Jesse (B)
Stoddard, Obed
Stone, Benjamin

APPENDIX

Stone, Ira

Stone, Jonah (B)

Stone, Josiah (Alias Joseph)

Stone, Levi

Stone, Seth

Stone, Sylvanus (Sylvenus) (W)
:{: Stone, Thomas (B)

Strickland, David

Strong, Jedediah
fStuart, Jared (Steward)

Sweet, John
*Tallmadge, Maj. Benjamin (E)

Taylor, Benjamin

Taylor, Ebenezer

Taylor, Elisha (E)
•f-Taylor, Joel

Taylor, John

Taylor, Moses

Taylor, Simeon

Taylor, Capt. Zebulon 2nd

Thomas, Joseph

Throop, Benjamin (F)

Todd, Samuel

Tracy, Uriah

Tracy, Silas

Trowbridge, Isaac

Trumbull, Ezekiel (Mo.)

Tuttle, Levi

Underwood, James
•f-Vaill, Samuel

Vaughn, John

Vaughn. Samuel

Wads worth. Gen. Elijah

Wadsworth, Epaphras
*Wallace, Nathaniel L.

Wallace, Corp. Richard (E)

Warren, Abijah (Ahijah)

Waugh, Capt. Alexander

Waugh, Joseph

Waugh, Capt. Samuel (F)

Waugh, Dr. Thadeus (F)

Way, Asa (N)

Way, Ira

Way, John

Way, Selah (Seeley)

Webster, Benjamin Jr. (E)

Webster, Charles

Webster, Elijah

Webster, Justus (W)

Webster, Michael

Webster, Obed

Webster, Reuben (E)

Webster, Corp. Stephen (E)

Webster, Timothy Jr. (E)
*Weed, Ezra

Welch, Maj. David (M)

Welch, Lieut. John (M)

Welch» John 2nd

Wetmore, David

Whittlesey, Roger N. (Mo.)

Wickwire, Grant (F)

Wilcox, Philemon

Wolcott. Gen. Oliver (E)

Wolcott, Oliver Jr. (E)

Woodcock, Sergt. Samuel

Woodruff. Andrew

Woodruff, Baldwin

Woodruff, Benjamin Jr.

Woodruff, Charles Jr. (Mo.)

Woodruff, Jacob (Mo.)

Woodruff, James (Mo.)

Woodruff, John

Woodruff, Sergt. Jonah
:}:Woodruff, Oliver

Woodruff. Philo

Woodruff, Samuel

Woodruff, Solomon

Wooster, Ephraim

Wooster, Lemuel (W)

Wright, James

Wright, Ensign Jonathan (M)

3. Civil War, 1861-1865.
The following list has been preparetl from the "Record of Con-
necticut Men in the War of the Rebellion", compiled by authority
of the General Assembly and pnblishetl in 1889; and from manu-
script records of Dwight C. Kilbourn and of the Seth Plumb Post,
G. A. R. The names of one man from the township who was dis-
honorably discharged and of 43 who deserted have been omitted

288

APPENDIX

from this Honor Roll. The following abbreviations have been used :
*Men who served in the 2nd Reg. Conn. Volunteers Heavy Artillery ;
fMen killed or who died while in service; ^Men who ser\'ed in the
2nd Reg. Conn. Volunteers Heavy Artillery, and who Avere killed
or who died while in ser\'ice.

:}:Adams, Corp. Charles Jr.

Addis, Frederick A.

Allard, Joseph

Alvord, Sergt. Edgar A.

Anderson, James
*Arnold, William
*Atwood, George E.
*Atwood, Josiah
*Atwood, Minot M.
•(■Baker-, William
fBaldwin, George W.
*Ball, Charles H.
*Banker, Corp. Hubert
•f-Banker, Philo
f Barber, Charles
fBarber, Francis E.
"^Barber, Frederick

Barber, Henry H.
:{:Barber, Norman B.
*Barnes, Nelson H.
■f-Barse, Eliot
•j-Beach, Jerome B.
*Beach, Thomas W.

Beardsley, Edson C.
*Belden, John A.
•^Benedict, John

Benedict, William
*Bierce, Alexander

Birge, Cornelius
*Bissell, Leonard C.
*Bissell, Corp. Lewis
tBissell. Rufus M.
*Bissell, Capt. William

Blakeman, Corp. James
*Blakeslee, George P.

Bluecher, George
fBooth, Corp. George F.
ifBradley, Almon B.
*Bradley, George
*Bradley. Hiram
*Bradley, Muse. Joseph D.
*Bradley, Leonard O.
fBradshaw, William

:j:Bray, Michael
4:Brooker, Andrew J.

Brown, John

Brown, William
*Buell, Appollos W.

Bulkeley, Charles A.
fBulkeley, William S.

Bunnell. Wagoner Albert
:J:Bunnell, Corp. Franklin M.
f Bunnell, Henry H.

Burke, Corp. Michael

Buxton, Sergt. Ezekiel
*Cable, Corp. Henry T.

Cable, Corp. William H.
f Camp, Joseph E.
:}:Candee, David M.

Carter, Charles
f Castle, Charles L.

Castle, Grove E.
fCastle, Morton
fCatlin, Charles
fCbapel, Alonzo
fClarl^, Corp. Sylvanus M.

Cogswell, Edward

Cohen, Isaac

Conroy, Thomas

Cook, Corp. Roger W.
fCooley. Hiram T.
*Cooper, Sergt. John H.

Crow, Asahel

Culver, Charles

Curtiss. Evits H.

Dains, George

Daley, John

Davidson, Ira A,
*Davi9, 2nd Lieut. Calvin L.

Davis, Sergt. William W.

Delliber, Charles W.
*Deming, Adj. Charles J.

Deviney, Michael
fDickinson, Thomas
•f-Dixon, Muse. Thomas
fDorman, Owen

APPENDIX

289

f Button, 1st Lieut. Henry M.
*Dwyer, Sergt. Edward
f Edwards, Corp. James
*Farrel, Sergt. Patrick

Fellows, Henry M.
fPerris, Smith W.

Fish , Charles J.

Fisher, Sergt. Charles C.

Fisher, Edward E.

Fisher, Corp. George F. S.

Fl3mn, George
fForfe, Jacob

Foster, Thomas H.

Fuller, Corp. Granville B.

Gaffney, Patrick
*Gibbs, Corp. Henry G.

Gilbert, Francis C.
*Goslee, Q. M. Sergt. Charles F.
fGoslee, Hugh S.

Griswold, Edward
*GriswoId, Silas M.

Guirard, Peter
fGutterman, Muse. John
fHale, Walter "
*Hall, William J.

Hallock, Loren

Hammer, Ernst
:}:Handel, John

Harris, William H.

Hart, Joseph
*Healy, Anson W.
*Hempstead, Wagoner Edward S.
ifHempstead. 2nd Lieut. George B.

Herbert, Sergt. Garrett

Herbert, Patrick
*Herbert, Thomas (On Rolls as

Hurlbut)
*Hinsdale, Q. M. Sergt. Charles W.
*Hotchkiss, Henry W.
fHubbard, Horace
^Hubbard, Joseph S.

Hull, Corp. Levi H.
*Hull, William H.

Hurd, George H.
Iflffland, John
*Jennings, Frederick T.

Johnson, John

Johnson, Lewis
f Johnson, Plumb
rtJones, Corp. Albert A.
fKarriei^ Jerry (On Rolls as Jere-
miah Kelleher)
f Kearn, Jacob

Kelly, John
*Kilbourn, ist Lieut Dwight C.
*Kilbourn, Myron E.

Kinley, John M,

Lampman, Charles V.
f Lampman, Luman

Lampman, Corp. Robert

Landon, Charles M.

Lawrence> Morton B.

Linsburg, John
*Malath, Peter

Marshall, Charles
*Mason, Capt. George W.
*Mason, Corp. Henry H.
*Mason, Sergt. Henry W.
•j-Mason, Thomas

Matthews, Warren W.

May, Frank

Mayo, Henry
f McElroy, Henry

McGee, Thomas
f McKinley, 2nd Lieut. Thomas H.
*Merriman, Charles
fMiller, Joan
:}:Minor, Henry M.

Moore, Charles J.

Moore, John

Moore, William
:|;Morse, Corp. Appollos C.

Munger, Trueworthy

Munson, Walter D.

Murray, Muse. Warren B.
*Myer, Philip

*NettIeton,Musc. Albert R.
ifNewbury, Nelbert P.
•{■Newcomb, Francis A.
fNichols, Jerome

Nichols. John P.

Nightingale, Frederick

Norris, Corp. William H.
' *Northrop, Rollin R-
:};Norville, William H.

290

APPENDIX

*Oakes, Corp. Eben L.

O'Brien, James
:j:Osborne, Sergt. Maj. Goodwin E.
*Parker, Frank

Parker, Joseph H.
f Parks, Joseph P.

Parmalee, Cornelius

Parmalee, Eli ,

:{:Parmalee, Willard H.
*Parmalee, William K.
:}: Parmalee, Watson

Parrit, Frank

Payne, Henry

Peacock, Patrick
itPeck, Albert A.
*Peck, Capt. Edward O.

Perkins, Charles
:j:Perkins, Edwin F.
*Perkins, Harvey B.
*Perkins, Norman B.

Peters, James T.
fPlumb, 2nd Lieut. Seth F.
*Plumb, William H.
*Pond, Edwin W.
*Pond, Ferris

Pond, George L.
*Pond, Corp. Seth C.
:j: Potter, Corp. George W.

Provost, Rufus

Redding, Thomas
*Reed, Chaurccy F.
*Reed, Joseph P.
fRichmond, Edward S.

Rodgers, John

Root, George
fRuby, Sergt. James H.
:}:Ryan, Patrick

Ryne, Corp. William

Sanford, Scgt. Edwin B.
*Sanford, Theodore G.

Schmidt, Henry

Scoville, Ezekiel
*Scoville, Sergt. Harry
*Sedgwick, ist Lieut. John E.
*Shumway, Capt. Alex. B.

Shumway, Fred'k D.

Smith, 1st Lieut. Edward B.
:}:Smith, Lyman J. Jr.

*Smith, Whiting P.
*Smith, Sergt. William S.
*Spencer, Sergt. Hiram S.

Starks, George
:J:Stillson, Amos H.
*St. John, Jason

Stone, Sergt. Alva
*Stone, 2nd Lieut. George D.

Stone, Chaplain Hiram
*Sweet, Lyman E.

Taylor, Lyman

Taylor, Sergt. Samuel S.

Terrill, George

Terryl, Luther A.

Thomaa, Charles

Thomas, Sergt. Edward O.
fThompkins, Enos

Throop, Corp. Monroe

Titus, Gilbert
*Tompkins, Jackson
fTompkins, John

Tompkins, Ralph H.

Tracy, Abel C.
fTreat, Frederick W.

Vaill. Q. M. Sergt. Joseph H.
*Vaill. Adj. Theodore F.
:{:Volusen, Caralf

Wade, Henry
tWadhams, Sergt. Edward
fWadhams, Henry W.
:}:Wadhams, Capt. Luman

Wakefield, William C.

Waldron, William

Warren, Charles
ifWatt Robert
*Waugh, George F.
fWebster, Frederick B.
*Wedge. Corp. Curtis P.
*Weeks, Luther L.

Wells, Major Frank

Wessells. Bvt. Brig.-Gen. Henry W.
*Wessells, Col. Leverett (e), W.

West, Henry G.
*Whaples, Sergt. Charles O.
*Wheeler, Charles G.

Wheeler, George W.

Wheeler, Q. M. Sergt. Stiles A.

Wheeler, Muse. Walcott

APPENDIX

291

*Whiting, Corp. Seth
ifWilcox, Corp. John L.
*WiIliams, Sergt. Henry

4. European War,

Allen, du Val
Allen, Paul Jr.
Andrews, Leslie F.
Axelby, Stanley
Axelby, William
Bachman, Charles I.
Baldwin, George H.
Baldwin, Robert L.
Baldwin, Thomas C.
Barrett, John F.
Beach, William M.
Beckwith, Sutherland A.
Bostwick, Elmore McN.
Brahen, Edward J.
Bramer, Hugo
Brennan, Edward A.
Brennan, Garrett F.
Brennan, Matthew E. Jr.
Brewster, James
Brown, Ernest W.
Buell, Carleton L.
Buell John S.
Bull, Ludlow S.
Busk, Frederick W.
Busk, Joseph R.
Burke, James F.
Burke, John N.
Cameron, John
Campomaggi, Giovanni
Carlson, Gustav A.
Carr. Thomas
Catlin, James H.
Cattey, Henry E.*
Cattey, Lucien H.
Clark. William B.
Clock. Albert W.
Clock, Frederick E.
Clock, Henry W.
Colvocoresses, Harold P.
Ccnroy. James E.
Cornwell, Roy E.*
Cucchi, Eugenio
Cunningham, Macklin
Curtiss, Burdette

fWooster, David B.
Yemmansv William H.

(1914), 1917-1918.

Curtiss, Erwin M.
Curtiss, Eugene F.
Conable, Samuel M.
Danielson, Caleb R.
Danielson, Clifford H.
Deacon, Arthur D.
Deming, Nelson L.
Deming, Robert C.
Dempsey, Charles J.
Devines, Clayton A.*
Dickinson, Frederick G.
Donohue, Edward J. M.
Donohue, Joseph*
Doster, Alexis
Doyle, Francis L.
Doyle, Lawrence F.
Drumrn, Otto C.
Drury, James M.
Drury, John F.
Edwards, George L.
Fabbri, Albert S.
Fairgrieve, Robert P.
Farnetti. Primo
Finan, William J.
Fritz, Ernest G.
Fusaroli, Umberto
Ganung, Charles R.
Ganung, Clarence F.
Goodman, Wesley L.
Gugnoni, Lazaro
Gugnoni, Filipo
Guidi, Ugo
Guinchi, Arnold
Guinchi, August*
Hallock, Francis J.
Handlowich, Daniel
Handlowich, Michael
Handlowich, Stephen
Harney, John M.
Harney, William M.
Harris, Charles P.
Harris, Thaddeus W. Jr.
Hatheway, Curtis R. Jr.
Hausmann, Joseph A.

293

APPENDIX

Hayes, Michael
Hazen, Ruel
Heath, Edward P.
Higgins, Hubert A.
Higgins, Timothy F.
Hotchkiss, Clifford T.
Hoyt, Lewis H.
Hunt, Philip W.
Jeffries, Bruce S.
Jeffries, Robert P.*
Johnson, Edward C.
Johnson, Oliver H.
Keller, John E. Jr.
Kelly, Thomas J.
Kirby, Leo F.
Kirwin, James L.
Knox, Robert J.
Knox, Thomas J.
Koser, Henry J,
Landon, Alva
Landon, Robert W.
Langford, Thomas A.
MacDonald, Archibald A.
MacDonald, Malcolm E,
Marchi, Carlo
Matson, Frederick R.
McBride, Alphonse
Meramble, Eugene W.
Mooney, John J.
Mooney, William
Moore, Clifford F.
Morgan, Frank A *
Morey, Charles H.
Munroe, Robert K.
Naser, Peter F.
Nozzioli, Frederick
Page, Carlisle W. C.
Page, Charles L Jr.
Page, Henry L.
Panaytatos, Peter

Parsons, Evans C.
Perkins, Benjamin T.
Perkins, Clarence E.
Perkins, Edwin B.
Peacocke, William D.
Pepper, Charles V.
Ray, Charles M.
Richards, Guy H.
Roberg, William D.
Robinson, Leonard G.
Salocks, Andrew
Santi, Aurelio
Sassi, Colombano
Schmidhausler, Arthur
Selvic, Alf
Sepples, Charles L.
Shanley, William L.
Sherry, Howard C*
Short, Richard A.
Slattery, John J.
Snyder, Edward L.
Terek, Andrew V.
Tompkins, Frank L.
Trumbull, Allan T.
Turkington, Charles H.
Umberti, Emelio
Valmoretti, Gino
Van Winkle, Edgar B. Jr.
Weik, John
Weir. James V.*
Weir, Frank B.
Weir, Thomas F.
Westerberg, Carl F.
Wheeler, Clarence M.
Whitbeck, Charles A.
Wiggin, Frederick H.
Wooster, Harold A.
Young, Ivar J.
Zavotti, Pio*

*Killed or died in service.

B. CLERGYMEN.

1. Congregational Church,
a. Litchfield

Timothy Collins 1723-1752

Judah Champion* 1753-1798

Dan Huntington 1798-1809

Lyman Beecher, D.D. 1810-1826

Daniel L. Carroll, D.D. 1827-1829

Laurens P. Hickok. D.D. 1829-1836

APPENDIX

293

Jonathan Brace, D.D. 1838-1844

Benjamin L. Swan 1846- 1856

Leonard W. Bacon, D.D. 1856-1859

George Richards 1860-1865

William B. Clark 1866-1869

Henry M. Elliott
Allan B. McLean
Charles Symington
John Hutchins
Frank J. Goodwin, D.D.

*Became Rector Emeritus. 1798, Died 1810.

b. South Farms.

George Beckwith

1772-1781

Amos Chase

I 787-1814

William R. Weeks

, D.D.

1815-1816

Amos Pettingill

1816-1822

Henry Robinson

I 823- I 829

Vernon D. Taylor

1831-1833

c. Northfield

Joseph Eleazer Camp

I 795- 1837

Campbell

Snow

Salter

Ransome

Russell

Mosely

1837-1844

J. S. Dickinson

1844-1851

Lewis Jessup

1851-1854

Noah Coe

1854-1856

Stephen Rogers

1856-1859

James Richards, D.D.

1859-1860

Erastus Colton

1861-1864

Wallace Humistc

d. Milton.

Benjamin Judd

I 802- I 804

Abraham Fowler

1807-1813

Asahel Nettleton, ]

D.D.

1813-

Levi Smith

1825-

Ralph Smith

1841-1844

John F. Norton

I 844- I 849

Herman L. Vaill

1849-1851

Francis Williams

1851-1853

James Noyes

1853-1854

James F. Warner
Ralph S. Crampton
Stephen Hubbell
B. Y. Messenger
Richard Woodruff
David L. Parmalee

E. N. Tucker
Hiram Gates

Elias Sanford, DD., LL.D.
S. G. W. Rankin
M. J. Callan
William Howard
H. Augustus Ottman
Edward C. Starr
Joseph Kyte
Fred Louis Grant
Giles F. Goodenough
James A. McKeeman
Alexander S. Baillie
1918-

George Harrison
Aurelian Post
Wesley E. Page
Joseph D. Prigmore
Pearl E. Mathias
Thomas A. Williams
Miss M. E. Millen*
Eugene Richards
*Missionary in charge.

1870-1874
1875-1881
1883-1893
1895-1915

1915-

1833-1834
1834-1836

1836-1837
1837-1838
1838-1841
1841-1859

1864-1866
1866-1871
1871-1873
1873-1874
1874-1875
1875-1877
1877-1881
1881-1887
1887-1894
1895-190S
1907-1914
1915-1916
1916-1917

1854-1893
1894-1895
1896-1903
1904-1906
1906-1907
1908-1912
1912-1914
1914-1919

2. Protestant Episcopal Church.

a. Litchfield. St. Michael's Parish.

Solomon Palmer

I 754- I 763

David Butler, D.D.

I 794- I 799

Thomas Davies

I 763- I 766

Truman Marsh

I 799-1829

Solomon Palmer

I 766- I 770

Isaac Jones*

1812-1826

James Nichols

1775-

John S. Stone, D.D.*

1826- I 829

Ashbel Baldwin

1785-1793

William Lucas

I 829- 1832

294

APPENDIX

Samuel Fuller, D.D,
William Payne, D.D.
Samuel Fuller, D. D.
Benjamin W. Stone, D.D
John J. Brandegee, D.D.
Junius M. Willey
H. N. Hudson

1832-1837
1838-1845
1845-1849
1849-1851
1851-1854
1855-1858
1858-1860
William J. Brewster 1916-

*Associate Rector ; -f-Became Rector Emeritus, died 1918

William S. Southgate 1860-1864

William S. Perry 1864-1869

C. S. Henry, D.D. 1870-1873

G. M. Wilkins 1874-1879

Storrs O. Seymour, D.D. 1879-1881

L. P. Bissell, D.D. 1882-1893

Storrs O. Seymour, D.D.f 1893-1916

b. Bantam and Milton. St. Paul's and Trinity Churches.

David G. Tomlinson
Amos Beach
Hilliard Bryant
Emery M. Porter
Frederick D. Harriman
George W. Nichols
Asa Griswold
Daniel E. Brown
John R. Williams

Arthur

c. Northfield.

Alexander V. Griswold
David Baldwin
Russell Wheeler
Roger Searle
David Welton
Frederick Holcomb
William Watson
Thomas W. Snow
Isaac H. Tuttle
Frederick Holcomb
Abel Ogden Jr.
Joshua D. Berry
George W. Nichols
Ruel H. Tuttle
Asa Griswold
Frederick Holcomb
William J. Pigott*
Benjamin Eastwood
Henry C. Stowell
C. Collard Adams
Frederick Holcomb
William Bostwick
Storrs O. Seymourf
William S. Sayre*

1831-1835 J. A. Wainwright

1836-1837 J. D .Berry

1837-1840 William L. Peck

1842-1843 Hiram Stone

1848-1850 J. H. Jackson

1850-1851 John O. Ferris

1852- Clarence H. Beers

1853-1857 Robert Van K. Harris

1858-1860 Thaddeus W. Harris

B. Crichton

Trinity

1 795-1804

1804-

1806-

1807-

1808-

1811-1835

1835-1837

1837-1839

1839-1840

1840-1845

1845-1846

1847-1848

1848-1850

1850-185 I

1851-1852

I 852- I 862

I 862- I 863

1864-

1865-1866

1867-1868

1869-1872

I 872- I 878

I 878- I 885

1919-

*Lay Reader ; fin

Church.

J. F. George*
Frank A. Sanborn*
William Johnson*
Fred C. Lee*
Edward C. Johnson*
Edgar L. San ford*
David L. Sanfordf
Edward C. Johnson*
Irving P. Johnson*
Storrs O. Seymourf
Irving Johnson*
William E. Hookerf
William H. Hutchinson*
S. Wolcott Linsley*
Arthur T. Parsonsf
Anthon T. Gesner*
Arthur Gammock*
John Gammock*
Alfred J. Nock*
Albert L. Whittaker*
William H. Jepson*
George H. Buck
Adelbert P. Chapman
Hamilton B. Phelpsf
Charge.

1860-1861
1864-1866
1866-1871
1873-1903
1904-1905
1905-1908
1908-1912
1912-1914
1915-1918

1885-

1887-1890

1890-

1891-1899

1900-1901
1901-1917
1918-

APPENDIX

295

3. Methodist Episcopal Church,
a. Litchfield.
Circuit Preachers who served Litchfield, 1790-1844.

Samuel Wigton

James M. Smith

Henry Christie

1790-

David Miller

Matthias Swain

Julius Field

1822-

James Covel

1791-

Daniel Brayton

Philip Wager

Elbert Osborne

1823-

James Coleman

1792-

Arnold Schofield

Lemuel Smith

Elbert Osborne

1824-

Daniel Ostrander

1793-1796

FU Barnet

William Thacher

1797-1799

John Love joy

1825-1826

Aaron Hunt

1800-

E. Washburne

Peter Moriarty

1801-1805

F. W. Sizer

Nathan Emory

Asa Bushnell

1827-

Samuel Cochran

1806-

E. Washburne

Aaron Hunt

Asa Bushnell

1828-

Jonathan Lyon

1807-

Bradley Silleck

Henry Eames

Wells Wolcott

Andrew Prindle

1808-

L. C. Cheney

1829-

Laban Clark

Bradley Silleck

Reuben Harris

1809-1810

Milo Chamberlain

James Coleman

David Stocking

1830-

Arnold Schofield

1811-

Luther Mead

James Coleman

Lerman .A Sanford

1831-

B. Griffen

1812-

A. S. Hill

W. Swazey

0. Stare

1832-1833

Gad Smith

C. W. Turner

J. Reimolds

1813-

D. Plumb

1834-

W. Swazey

C. Chittenden

J Reynolds

L. Gunn

T. Thorp

181 4-

I. Abbott

1835-

Samuel Cochran

C. C. Keys

1836-

B. Hibbard

Gad N. Smith

1837-1838

J. Dayton

1815-

S. W. Scofield

1839-

Samuel Cochran

S. W. Scofield

Cyrus Culver

1816-

Thomas Ellis

E. P. Jacob

Jason Wells

J. J. Matthias

1817-

S. W. Law

1840-

Datus Ensign

Francis Donnelly

Ezekiel Canfield

1818-1819

Lewis Gunn

Nathan Emory

S. W. Scofield

1841-

Smith Dayton

1820-

Jason Wells

E. Washburne

Thomas Geralds

1842-

Smith Da3rton

1821-

David L. Marks

1843-

296

APPENDIX

Resident

Pastors.

David L. Marks

1844-

W. L. Douglas

1879-

William Dixon

1845-1846

John Cromlish

1880-1881

Joseph Henson

1847-1848

T. I .Watt

1882-1883

William B. Hoyt

I 849- I 850

Robert Wasson

1883-1885

Nathan C. Lewis

1851-1852

Benjamin F. Skidder

1886-1888

H. N. Weed

1853-1854

James H. Lightbourn

1889-

D. W. Lounsbury

1855-1856

David MacMullin

1890-

William Howard

1857-1858

G. C. Spencer

1891-1894

Albert Booth

I 859- I 860

George C. Boswell

1895-1898

Joseph Vinton

1861-1862

William H. Wakeham

1899- I 900

William Lawrence

1863-1864

WiUiam W. Gillies

1901-1902

Joseph 0. Munson

1865-1867

William L. Miller

I 903- I 904

Sylvester Smith

1868-1870

Robert W. Jones

1905-

A. P. Chapman

1871-

Ridgway F. Shinn

1906-1911

James Taylor

187-1873

Charles S. Gray

1912-

W. S. Morrison

1874-

J. A. Swann

1913-1914

George A. Graves

1875-1876

William M. Warden

1915-1918

W. H. McAllister

1877-1878

William. B. Pruner

1919-

b. Bantam.

W. H. McMorris

1896-1899

M. Harwood

1908- 191 1

T. A. Wade

1899-1900

H. S. Crossett

1911-1913

D. V. Teed

1900-

B. S. Miller

1913-1915

A. H. Birch

1900-1902

A. J. W. Mowatt

1915-1917

A. R. Davies

1902-1905

E. L. Copley

1917-1919

W. I. Reed

1905-1906

Robert Thorne

1919-1920

J. B. Smith

1906-1908

H. A. Studwell

1920-

4. Baptist Church.

a. Bantam

Falls.

Jackson G. Ganun

1857-1862

E. B. Elms

1891-1896

C. N. Potter

1863-1867

G. D. Reid

1903-

J. Fairman

1867-1871

Ray H. Legate

1909-

D. F. Chapman

1871-1875

J. L. Deming

1910-

E. D. Bowers

1876-1878

Herman Foster*

1911-1912

H. G. Smith

1878-1881

C. W. Davis

1914-

*Lay Preacher.

•

5. Roman Catholic Church

a. Litchfield. St. Anthony's Parish.

Visiting Missionary Priests.

Rev. John Smith 1848 Rev. Thomas F. Hendricken

Bishop O'Reilly 1851 Rev. Lawrence Mangan

Rev. Philip GilHck 1853 Rev. Peter Kelly

Pastors of Winsted in charge, 1861-1882.
Rev. Daniel Mullen Father Leo da Saracena O. S.

Rev. Philip Sheridan Father Anacletus O. F. M.

i8S4
1856
1857

APPENDIX

297

Resident Priests.

Rev. M. Byrne 1882-1883 Rev. Patrick Finnegan 1889-1896

Rev. Joseph Gleeson 1883-1885 Rev. Peter Skelly 1896-1910

Rev. Timothy M. Sweeney 1885-1889 Rev. John L. McGuinness 1910-

O. UNITED STATES, STATE, JUDICIAL, COUNTY AND TOWN
OFFICIALS FROM LITCHFIELD.

1. a. United States Senators.

First Chosen

Uriah Tracy

1796 Truman Smith

b. Members of U, S. Congress.

Uriah Tracy
John Allen
Benjamin Tallmadge
Uriel Holmes
Jabez W. Huntingdon

Phineas Miner
Truman Smith 1839-1843,
Origen S. Seymour
George C. Woodruff
John H. Hubbard
1882-1886

1793-1796
I 797- I 799
1801-1817
1817-1818
I 829- I 835
Edward W. Seymour

2. a. Governors of Connecticut.
Oliver Wolcott 1796-1797 Oliver Wolcott Jr.

Charles B. Andrews 1879-1881

b. Members of the Council.

chosen
Elisha Sheldon 1761 Jedediah Strong

Oliver Wolcott 1771 Tapping Reeve

Andrew Adams 1781 John Allen

Frederick Wolcott 1810

c. Members of the State Senate.

Elected by General Ticket.

chosen yrs.

1819 4 John Welch

1824 I

Under District System.

1830-1831 Gideon H. Hollister
Charles B. Andrews
Edward W. Seymour
Seth Pratt
Edwin McNeill
1893-

1849

1834-183S
1845-1849
1851-1855
1861-1863
1863-1867

1817-1827

chosen
1789
1792
1800

Frederick Wolcott
Seth P. Beers

Phineas Miner
WiUiam Beebe
Francis Bacon
Charles Adams
Charles O. Belden

1845-
1849-
1851-
1855-
J. Deming Perkins

chosen yrs.
1825 7

1856-

1868-1869

1876-

1877:1888

1889-

d. Members of the House of Representatives, 1740-1919.
Two sessions were held yearly, May and October, indicated as
(1) and (2), until 1819; one session was held yearly from 1819 to
1887; since then sessions have been biennial.

-^Members of a second May session held in 1745.

298 APPENDIX

Joseph Bird i74o(i) ; 43(2)-45(i) ; *45(2)-46; 49(0.

Ebenezer Marsh i74o(i) ; 41-44(0 ; 45(0 ; 46; 48-52(0 ; 54; 55(2).

58; 59(2)-66; 67(2)-68(0; 69; I7(0; 84; 85(2)-

88; 90(0.

John Bird 1740(2); 43(0; 48.

John Buel 1740(2); 4i(0-

Samuel Culver 1741(2).

Jacob Griswold 1742.

Edward Phelps i744(2)-45(0 ; *45(2).

Isaac Baldwin 1745(0; 6i(2)-64(0 ; 65-66(0: 82(2); 84(0.

Thomas Harrison 1747; 49(2)-52(i); 53(2); 54 (2).

Joseph San ford 1747-

Joseph Kilbourn i752(2)-53(0.

Benjamin Webster i752(2)-54(0 ; 55 (O.

Peter Buell I755(0 ; 56-57(0-

EHsha Sheldon I7S5(2) ; 57(2)-6i(0.

Jacob Woodruff I759(i) ; 68(2).

Oliver Wolcott 1764(2); 67(0; 68(2); 70(2).

John Marsh 1766(2) ; 68(1) ; 7i(0 ; 72(2) ; 74(0.

Abraham Kilbourn 1769—70.

David Welch 1770(1); 73; 74(2)-75(0 ; 80(2).

Jedediah Strong i77i(2)-8o(i) ; 81-83(1); 85-86; 87(2)-88(i) ; 89.

Lynde Lord I77i(2)-72(i).

Abraham Bradley i775(2)-76(i) ; 83(2); 85(1).

Andrew Adams i776(2)-8i(i).

Bezaleel Beebe i78i(2)-82(i) ; 83(1) ; 92(2) ; 93(2) ; 95(2).

Isaac Baldwin Jr. 1783(2); 84(2).

Ebenezer Benton 1781(1).

Uriah Tracy i788(2)-92(i) ; 93(0.

Julius Deming I79o(2)-9i(0 ; 98(1).

Ephraim Kirby 1791 (2)-92(i) ; 94-95(1); 97; 98(2)-i8oi (i)-

Solomon Marsh 1792(2).

John Allen i793-95(i) ; 96.

Moses Seymour i795(2)-97; 98(2)-99(0 ; 1801 ; 02(2) ; 06(1) ; 10-12(1).

James Morris 1798(1); 1800(2); 02(1); 03-05(2).

John Welch i799(2)-i8oo(i) ; 01(2).

Frederick Wolcott 1802(1) ; 03(1).

Uriel Holmes i8o3(2)-05; o6(2)-07; 14 (2).

Norman Buel 1806(1).

Aaron Bradley i8o6(2)-o8(i) ; 10.

Aaron Smith 1808-09; 11-14(1).

Nathaniel Goodwin 1808 (2) -09.

Morris Woodruff i8i2(2)-is(i); 24-26; 29-30; 36-37.

William Beebe 1815(1) -16; 27-28; 33.

Jonathan Buel 1815 (2) -17.

Ephraim S. Hall 1817(1) -i8(0.

Steohen Russell 1818; 30-31; 34.

Phineas Lord i8i8(2)-i9; 36-37.

APPENDIX

Seth P. Beers

1820-23.

Phineas Miner

1823 : 27

; 29 ; 35.

David Marsh i

824-25 ;

46-47.

Reuben Webster

[826.

Jabez W. Huntington

828.

Truman Smith ]

831-32;

34.

Elihu Harrison ]

832; 35-

Asa Hopkins

833.

Samuel Buel i

838-39.

William Ray ]

838-39.

Frederick Buel i

840-41 ;

54.

E. Champion Bacon i

840-41.

Origen S. Seymour i

842-43 ;

49-50; 1 881.

Enos Stoddard ]

842-43.

Elisha S. Abernethy ]

844.

Dan Catlin i

844-45.

Charles Adams ]

845.

George Seymour

846-47.

Samuel P. Bolles i

848; 54

William L. Smedley ]

848.

Christopher Wheeler )

849-50.

George C. Woodruff

851; 66

, 74.

Thomas M. Coe i

851.

Josiah G. Beckwith i

852-53 ;

56-57; 69.

William Newton i

852-53-

Philip S. Beebe ]

855; 62

Samuel Brooker Jr. )

855.

Garry H. Minor J

856.

Edward Pierpont ]

857.

Henry B. Graves

1858; 67

-68; 76-77; 79;

William Bissell

r 858-59;

78.

Edward W. Seymour

[859-60 ;

70-71.

Daniel Stoddard

860.

George H. Baldwin

861.

Jacob Morse

[861.

George A. Hickox

[862; 89.

George M. Woodruff

1863 ; 65

; 72.

Everett H. Wright

[863-64.

T. R. Sedgwick

[864.

D. E. Bostwick

1865.

T. L. Saltonstall

1866.

Eli D. Weeks

1867; 77

; 1913.

T. Leander Jennings

1868.

J. B. Hopkins

1869.

Henry Frisbie

1870.

N. W. Beach

1871.

Ransom Newton

1872.

Julius Deming

1873.

299

300

APPENDIX

Charles D. Wheeler

1873.

James B. Newcomb

1874.

WiUiam Deming

1875-76.

Garner B. Curtiss

1875;

82.

Charles B. Andrews

1878.

Leverett W. Wessells

1879;

87.

Gideon H. HolHster

1880.

Harry demons

1880;

87.

Frederick S. Porter

1881.

Willis J. Beach

1882.

F. Ratchford Starr

1883-84.

William H. Doyle

1883;

1907.

Edward E. Champlin

1884;

97.

Alvah A. Stone

1885.

Asahel Morse

1885.

Seth Pratt

1886.

Frank A. Shepard

1886.

Walter S. Judd

1891;

93.

William T. Marsh

1891;

93; 95; 1907.

George Kenney

1895.

George W. Mason

1897-

James P. Woodruff

1899;

1903.

John H. Harrigan

1899.

John T. Hubbard

1901 ;

03.

Fred'k A. Stoddard

1901 ;

09.

Samuel Trumbull

1905.

Francis M. Coe

1905.

James T. Sedgwick

1909;

11; 13.

John W. Ravenscroft 191 1 ;

17-

W. Burton Allen

1915.

Winfield S. Rogers

1915.

Fremont M. Granniss 1917.

Willis 0. Perkins

1919.

George C. Ives

1919.

e. Delegates to Constitutional Conventions.

Oliver Wolcott Jr.* 1818 Charles B. Andrews* 1902

Seth P. Beers 1818 *President.

3. a. Judges of Superior Court and Supreme Court of Errors.
Andrew Adams 1789-1798 J. W. Huntington 1834-1840

Tapping Reeve 1798-1815 Origen S. Seymour 1855-63 ;i870-i874

James Gould 1816-1819 Charles B. Andrews 1882-1901

Samuel Church 1833-1854 Edward W. Seymour 1889-1892

b. Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Errors.

Andrew Adams 1793-1798 Samuel Church 1847-1854

Tapping Reeve 1814-1815 Origen S. Seymour 1873-1874

Charles B. Andrews 1889-1901

HnX. I\Mi^ P. W'luihKl-FF. IrniiF. IIF THF '.^HKT nF CnMMnX Pl.KA>. I'JJO

APPENDIX

301

c. Presiding Judges of the Court of Common Pleas.

County of Litchfield.

Previous to 1819, this Court consisted of one Presiding Judge
and four Associate Judges, called "Justices of the Quorum". From
1819 to 1839, there were but two Associate Judges, instead of four.
From 1839 till the abolition of the Court in 1855, there were no
Associate Judges — the County Commissioners being their successors.
Oliver Wolcott 1/73-1786 Elisha S. Abernethy 1846-1847

d. Associate Judges of the Court of Common Pleas.

chosen

Ebenezer Marsh

1751

Uriel Holmes

1814

Elisha Sheldon

1754

John Welch

1819

Jedediah Strong

1780

Morris Woodruff

1829

ugh P.

Welch

1836

e. Judges of the Court of Common Pleas.

The Court of Common Pleas was re-established in 1883.
James P. Woodruff 1914-

f. Judges of Probate, District of Litchfield.

District organized in 1747. Judges appointed annually by the
Legislature until 1851. Since elected annually by the People.

Ebenezer Marsh

1747-1772

Oliver A. G. Todd

1852-1853

Oliver Wolcott

I 772- I 796

George C. Woodruff

1853-1854

Frederick Wolcott

I 796- 1837

Charles Adams

1854-1857

Elisha S. Abernethy

1837-1838

George C. Woodruff

1857-1858

Phineas Miner

1838-1840

Charles Adams

1858-1868

Ralph G. Camp

I 840- I 842

George H. Baldwin

1868-1869

Elisha S. Abernethy

I 842- I 844

George M. Woodruff

1869-1872

Ralph G. Camp

1844-1846

Henry R. Morrill

1872-1873

Elisha S. Abernethy

I 846- I 847

George M. Woodruff

1873-1906

Charles Adams

1847-1850

James P. Woodruff

1906-1907

Oliver A. G. Todd

1850-1851

John T. Hubbard

1907-1913

Henry B. Graves

1851-1852

Thomas F. Ryan

1913-1915.

John

T. Hubbard

1915-

g. Commissioners of the Superior Court from Litchfield.

First Chosen

Seth P. Beers

Jason Whiting

1862

Frederick D. Beeman

D. C. Kilbourn

1867

John H. Hubbard

J. G. Beckwith

1867

P. K. Kilbourne

Charles 0. Belden

1869

William L. Ransom

Charles Adams

1869

Edward W. Seymour

H. R. Morrill

1870

William F. Baldwin

i860

F. S. Porter

1870

Henry M. Button

i860

John R. Farnum

1871

George M. Woodruff

i860

Charles H. Henry

1872

G. H. Hollister

1862

B. J. Smith

1872

302

Louis J. Blake
Frederick C. Webster
George A. Hickox
H. H. Prescott
F. W. Wessells
George C. Woodruff
E. B. Kellogg
Edwin A. White
Charles C. Moore
Robert E. Hall
Walter S. Judd
John T. Hubbard
Marcus D. F. Smith
Frederick Koehler
Elbert P. Roberts
Charles B. Bishop

h. Justices of the Peace for the County of Litchfield,
Residing in the town of Litchfield.

Complete Roll, from the organization of the County to the
present time. Until 1851, all Justices of the Peace in Connecticut
were appointed annually by the Legislature. They are now elected
by the People for the term of two years.

1^73

Frederick M. Williams

1887

1874

Wheaton F. Dowd

1889

1875

Eli D. Weeks

1889

1875

George W. Bement

1891

1875

Charles D. Burrill

1893

1877

James P. Woodruff

1894

1878

T. Leander Jennings

1896

1880

Fred J. Stausebach

1898

1881

J. Gail Beckwith

1899

1882

Charles W. Andrews

1900

1882

Frank T. Hammond

1902

1884

F. L. Jennings

1903

1884'

Thomas F. Ryan

1906

188s

John H. Lancaster

1910

1885

Louis J. Goodman

1918

1886

Floyd L. Vanderpoel

1918

irst Chosen

First Chosen

Thomas Harrison

1752

Uriel Holmes

1808

Timothy Collins

1753

Peter Sherman

1808

Elisha Sheldon

1754

Aaron Smith

1808

Jacob Woodruff

1759

Phineas Miner

1809

Isaac Baldwin

1762

Asa Bacon

1810

David Welch

1768

Levi Catlin

1812

Reuben Smith

1772

Morris Woodruff

1814

Andrew Adams

1774

Seth P. Beers

1817

Jedediah Strong

1779

Jonathan Buel

1817

Abraham Bradley

1781

Jabez W. Huntington

1817

Tapping Reeve

1783

Nathaniel Goodwin

1818

James Morris

1788

James Birge

1819

Uriah Tracy-

1792

Ozias Lewis

1819

John Welch

1793

Stephen Russell

1819

John Allen

1796

L Bunce

1820

Moses Seymour

1797

Ephraim S. Hall

1820

Julius Deming

1798

Elihu Harrison

1820

Frederick Wolcott

1800

Enos Stoddard

1823

Seth Landon

1802

David C. Sanford

1824

Nathan Bassett

1803

Simeon Sanford

1826

Roger Marsh

1803

Hugh P. Welch

1826

Mark Prindle

1804

Truman Smith

1827

Roger N. Whittlesey

1804

Joseph Adams

1828

Benjamin Tallmadge

1807

Joseph Birge

1828

APPENDIX

303

Asa Hopkins

1828

Alanson Hall

1846

Origen S. Seymour

1829

Homer Kilbourn

1846

Truman Kilbourn

1830

Lemuel O. Meafoy

1846

Leonard Goodwin

1832

Prentice Parkhurst

1846

George C. Woodruff

1832

Walter Coe

1847

Joseph Birge Jr.

1835

Isaac B. Woodruff

1847

William Harrison

1835

Daniel B. Stoddard

1847

Putnam Kilbourn

1835

Charles Adams

1847

E. S. Abernethy

1830

Philip S. Beebe

1847

Samuel P. Bolles

1836

Frederick Buel

1847

Dan Catlin

1836

Phineas W. Camp

1847

Abner Landon

1836

William Norton

1847

A. J. Pickett

183b

John A. Oviatt

1847

Edward Pierpont

1837

Leonard Pierpont

1847

Enoch J. Woodruff

1837

Oliver A. G. Todd

1848

Edward Camp

1838

Amos Farnsworth

1849

Edward Cowles

1838

Henry B. Graves

1849

Samuel H. Dudley

1838

Albin Guild

1849

Chester C. Goslee

1838

Samuel A. Merwin

1849

Julius Griswold

1838

William Newton

1849

Asa Hopkins

1838

Ithamar Page

1849

Manly Peters

1838

Charles O. Belden

1850

James M. Pierpont

1838

David Benton

1850

William Bassett

1839

George A. Smith

1850

Ralph G. Camp

1839

Tomlinson Wells

1850

Francis Bacon

1840

Chester G. Birge

185 1

Ozias B. Bassett

1840

Junius Burgess

1851

Cyrus Catlin

1840

Edward Garnsey

1851

Henry Skilton

1840

Christopher C. Palmer

1851

Charles L. Webb

1840

John H. Hubbard

1852

Jason Whiting

1840

A. S. Lewis

1852

John Garnsey

1841

Charles C. Buel

1854

Stephen Deming

1842

Henry Frisbie

1854

Augustus Morey

1842

Levi Heaton

1854

G. H. HollBter

1843

George A. HickoK

1854

Isaac Newton

1843

Garry H. Minor

1854

William L. Smedley

1843

William Bissell

1856

Frederick W. Plumb

1844

George Garnsey

1856

Stephen Trowbridge

1844

Edward W. Seymour

1856

Samuel G. Braman

1845

Abraham C. Smith

1856

Norman Hall

1845

John Catlin

1858

Uri Taylor

1845

Orson Emons

1858

Douglas Watson

1845

Royal A. Ford

1858

James B. Woodruff

1845

P. K. Kilbourne

1858

Frederick D. Beeman

1846

Jacob Morse Jr.

1858

Samuel Brooker Jr.

1846

William L. Ransom

1858

Samuel Church

1846

Newton Smith

1858

Garner B. Curtiss

1846

Everett H. Wright

1859

304

APPENDIX

Henry M. Button i860

George M. Woodruff i860

Edwin B. Webster 1861

Charles D. Wheeler 1861

Aaron Baldwin 1862

William Coe 1862

Henry S. Griswold 1862

S. H. Dudley 1862

F. A. Marsh 1862

A. J. Pierpont 1862

F. S. Porter 1862
James Richards 1862
Charles B. Andrews 1864
George Guernsey 1864
Chester Goslee 1864
David Stoddard 1864
Garry G. Porter 1864
Charles Booth 1866
L. T. Gilbert 1866
J. B. Hopkins 1866
Dwight C. Kilbourn 1866
S. O. Meafoy 1866
John McNeil 1866

E. P. Moulthrop 1866
T. Leander Jennings 1866
Eli D. Weeks 1866
Seth Pond 1868
Frederick Chittenden 1868

G. W. Bement 1868
Thomas M. Saltonstall 1868
G. B. Curtiss 1870
A. B. Hallock 1870
Elbert G. Roberts 1870
S. B. Johnson 1871
Henry R. Morrill 1872
J. R. Farnum 1874
Noah W. Beach 1874
Samuel G. Beach 1874
Darius P. Griswold 1874
John A. Hall 1874
William Deming 1877
D. G. Turney 1877
Howard Catlin 1877
Henry Morse 1877

F. W. Wessells 1877
Anson C. Smith 1877
Charles B. Anderson 1878
D. C. Griswold 1878
Willis G. Barton 1880

C. Merriman

1880

Francis N. Barton

1882

Horatio P. Griswold

1882

Henry H. Prescott

1882

Charles C. Moore

1882

Isaac Hutchinson

1882

Walter S. Judd

18S2

Holmes 0. Morse

1884

Eugene M. Meafoy

1884

Isaac B. Pond

1884

Charles I. Page

1884

Francis N. Benton

1884

Charles F. Baldwin

1884

John T. Hubbard

1884

Frederick Koehler

1886

Elbert P. Roberts

i886

Charles L. Blake

1888

Arthur Morse

1888

Leonard L. Munson

1888

Charles B. Bishop

1890

Frank M. Barnes

1890

Arthur D. Catlin

1890

Henry S. Coe

1890

George W. Mason

1890

Henry B. Peck

1890

Chester Thomas

1890

Edgar F. Wedge

1890

Frank H. Earle

1892

Thomas Hinchliff

1892

Sidney D. Moore

1892

Clifford C. Newbury

1892

Henry T. Peck

1892

Robert L .Rochfort

1892

Marcus D. F. Smith

1892

Charles W. Talcott

1892

Charles D. Burrill

1894

Patrick C. Burke

1894

James P. Catlin

1894

Cornelius R. Duffie Jr.

1894

Charles D. Kilbourn

1894

L. L. Munson

1894

William H. Plumb

1894

Henry W. Wessells

1894

James P. Woodruff

1894

Charles W. Biglow

1896

Henry L. Coe

1896

Samuel J. Cone

1896

Ithamar T. Dickinson

1896

Hiram N. French

1896

Mrss CoRXEi.iA B. Smith. Clerical Assistant
TO THE Clerk of the Superior Court. 1920

Frank H. Tc-rkingtox, Smkriff, 1920

APPENDIX

3<>5

John H. Harrigan J896

Lewis C. Hotchkiss 1896

James H. Morse 1896

William J. Hall 1898

John Hurley 1898

Charles R Iffland 1898

William T. Marsh 1898

Edward Donohue 1900

Wheaton F. Dowd 1900

Frederick S. Stoddard 1902

Almon B. Webster 1902

Frederick A. Blatz 1906

Frank H. Earle 1906

Edward T. Harris 1906

David Johnson 1906

John J. Karl igo6

Thomas F. Ryan 1906

Floyd L. Vanderpoel

Frank B. Mason 1907

Elgin G. Clock 1908

Charles S. Nearing 1908

Walter E. Seelye 1908

Job H. Scott 1908

Edgar D. Beach 1910

Willis O. Perkins 1910

George H. Hunt 1912

William Gibbs 1914

John H. Lancaster 1914

Charles D. Kilboum 191S

Winfield S. Rogers 1916

Frederick L. Tharp 1916

George C, Woodruff 1916

Lyman J. Booth 1918

F. North Clark 1918

William L. Ravenscrofl 1918

1918

5. a. Sheriffs of Litchfield County,

Oliver Wolcott
Lynde Lord
John R. Landon
Moses Seymour Jr.
Ozias Seymour

First Chosen

1751
1772
1801
1819

1825

Albert Sedgwick
Leverett W. Wessells
Henry A. Botsford
George H. Baldwin
Frank H. Turkington

b. Clerks of

Isaac Baldwin
Frederick Wolcott
Origen S. Seymour
Gideon H. Hollister
Origen S. Seymour
Gideon H. Hollister

the Superior Court.

1751-1793 Frederick D. Beeman

1793-1836 Henry B. Graves

1836-1844 Frederick D. Beeman

1844-1846 William L. Ransom

1 846- 1847 Dwight C. Kilbourn

1847-1850 Wheaton F. Dowd

c. County Treasurers.

John Catlin 1751-1761

I 761 -1779

Elisha Sheldon
Reuben Smith
Julius Deming
Abel Catlin
Charles L. Webb

George A. Hickox
William C. Buel
1779-1801 George E. Jones
1801-1814 Charles E. Wilson
1814-1842 Frank W, Humphrey
1842-1863 Philip P. Hubbard

First Chosen
1834
1854
1866
1869
1907

1851-1854
1854-1855
1855-1860
1860-1887
1887-1914
1915-

1863-1875
1875-1887
1887-1896
1896-1899
1899-1909
1909-

d. Prosecuting Attorneys.

King's Attorneys.
Reynold Marvin 1764 Andrew Adams

1772

3o6

APPENDIX

State's Attorneys.

Andrew Adams

Uriel Holmes Jr.

Tapping Reeve

1788

Seth P. Beers

1820

Uriah Tracy

1789

Samuel Church

182s

John Allen

1800

David C. Sanford

1840

Daniel W. Lewis

John H. Hubbard

1849

a County Co

mmissioners.

Stephen Deming

1856-

John J. Karl

190S-1913

William F. Baldwin

1862-1863

W. J. Bissell

1913-

John

H. Lancaster

1915-

6. a. Selectmen.

First Chosen

John Marsh

1721

John Marsh

I7SS

Joseph Kilbourn

1722

Solomon Buel

1756

Jacob Griswold

1725

Archibald McNeill

1756

John Buel

1726

John Farnham

1757

Joseph Bird

1727

Josiah Grant

I7S7

Samuel Culver

1731

Nathaniel Culver

1758

David Baldwin

1735

Abel Barnes

I7S&

John Gay

1736

Jacob Woodruff

1760

Joshua Garrett

1737

Oliver Wolcott

1761

Josiah Walker

1737

Joseph Mason Jr.

1761

Joseph Mason

1737

Reynold Marvin

1762

Daniel Allen

1737

Timothy Collins

1763

Joseph Gillett

1738

Lynde Lord

1768

Benjamin Webster

1738

Mark Prindle

1769

Edward Phelps

1738

David Welch

1769

Joseph Kilbourn Jr.

1740

Seth Bird

1770

Ebenezer Marsh

1740

John Osborn

1770

Joseph San ford

1743

Jedediah Strong

1770

Moses Stoddard

1743

Abraham Bradley

1773

John Catlin

1744

Reuben Smith

1776

Supply Strong

1744

A. Buel

1777

Joseph Birge

1745

Miles Beach

1777

James Kilbourn

1746

Bryant Stoddard

1778

Abraham Kilbourn

1746

Bezaleel Beebe

1778

Thomas Harrison

1746

Archibald McNeil Jr.

1779

Peter Buel

1746

Jonah Sanford

1780

A. Goodwin

1747

John Stoddard

1780

William Marsh

174/

Jesse Kilbourn

1782

Thomas Catlin

1748

Isaac Baldwin

1782

Samuel Beach

1748

James Stoddard

1783

Isaac Bissell

1751

Heber Stone

1784

Daniel Landon

1753

Timothy Skinner

1784

F./ra Plumb

1754

Elihu Harrison

1784

Elisha Sheldon

1754

Roger Marsh

178s

Ebenezer Taylor

1754

Seth Landon

178s

Benjamin Gibbs

1754

Philemon Murray

1786

4 --^

iHX H. L.Wi.AS'l KK. Col'X-. N' (".'(i M M 1 -SIcXEP . 1920

APPENDIX

307

Roger N. Whittlesey

1787

George M. Buel

1833

Noah (?) Garnsey

1790

Rufus Pickett

1833

Julius Deming

1 791

John Garnsey

1833

David Kilbourn

1792

Tomlinson Wells

1833

Ozias Lewis

1792

Levi Frisbie

1834

Nathaniel Goodwin

1795

Albert Sedgfwick

1835

Samuel Seymour

1797

Samuel Wright

1836

John Landon

1798

George Dewey

1836

James Marsh

1799

Abner Landon

1836

John Welch

1799

Edward Pierpont

1836

Ephraim Kirby

1799

John A. Oviatt

1838

Stephen San ford

xSoi

William Coe

1838

Norman Buel

1802

Isaac Tuttle

1838

Aaron Bradley

1803

Henry S. Griswold

1839

Aaron Smith

1803

Norman Kilbourn

1840

Peter Sherman

1805

Jason Whiting

1840

Ephraim S. Hall

1810

Eli Curtis

1841

Jonathan Buel

181 1

Truman Gilbert

1841

James Birge

1811

David Benton

1841

Peck Clark

181S

Reuben M. Woodruff

1843

Stephen Russell

1815

Sidney Peck

1843

Phineas Lord

1816

William Bissell

1843

Joseph Birge

1817

Edward Garnsey

1844

Ozias Lewis Jr.

1817

Charles Jones

1845

Philo Moss

1817

Prentice Parkhurst

1845

Simeon Sanford

1817

Heman Beach

1846

David Westover

1818

Frederick Buel

1846

Samuel A. Merwin

1819

Henry R. Goslee

1846

Enos Stoddard

1820

Lyman Webster

1846

Morris Woodruff

1820

William Newton

1846

Levi Catlin

1821

Stephen Moss

1846

David Marsh

1821

Jacob Morse

1847

Julius Griswold

1822

Murray Kenney

1847

Reuben Webster

1822

Josiah G. Beckwith

1847

Charles Seymour

1825

Sherman P. Woodward

1849

William Beebe

1825

Henry Frisbie

185 1

Benjamin Griswold

182s

Willis Stone

1851-

John Bird

1826

George A. Smith

1852

Stephen Deming

1827

Frederick M. Blakeslee

1853

Gad Guild

1827

A. S. Lewis

i8S4

Ashbel Wessells

1828

Levi Heaton

1854

Roswell Harrison

1828

Abraham C. Smith

i8S5

William Harrison

1830

Andrew W. Marsh

i8S7

Asa Hopkins

1830

Jacob Morse Jr.

i8S7

Isaac Newton

183 1

Anson C. Smith

i8S7

William Tuttle

1832

Daniel Stoddard

1857

Putnam Kilbourn

1832

Garry H. Minor

1858

Samuel P. Bolles

1832

Royal A. Ford

1859

3o8

Edward Hopkins
Isaac Morse
Everett H. Wright
George H. Baldwin
George Guernsey
Joseph A. Newbury
Gamer B. Curtiss
Erastus Moulthrop
Charles D. Wheeler
Andrew J. Pierpont
Chester C. Goslee
Francis M. Hale
Horace Nichols
Frederick B. Hand
Charles Adams
Anson B. Beach
Harry demons
CliflFord C. Newbury
Frederick S. Porter
John McNeill
Darius C. Griswold
Theodore S. Sedgwick
William R. Keeler
Lewis C. Hotchkiss
Charles T. Page
Malachi Tracy
Thomas C. Goslee
William J. Hall
Jerome D. Wheeler
H. G. Tyler
Charles B. Bishop
Cornelius Murphy

b. Town Clerks.

John Marsh
John Bird
Joseph Bird
John Bird
Joshua Garrett
Isaac Baldwin
Jedediah Strong
Moses Sejrmour
Elihu Harrison
Samuel P. Bolles
Sylvester Galpin
Samuel P. Bolles
Charles O. Belden
Charles A. Hickox

APPENDIX

1859

Russell W. Fitch

1885

i860

J. K. Adams

1885

i860

Ithamar T. Dickinson

1887

1863

Moses W. Doyle

1890

1863

Charles Merriman

1890

1863

Fremont M. Grannis

1891

1864

Samuel Trumbull

1894

i86s

Newton G. Tyler

1894

i86s

John L. Plumb

1894

1865

Fred F. Clark

* 189s

1866

Christian B. Iffland

1895

1868

Patrick C. Burke

i8g6

1868

Edgar D. Beach

1896

1868

Louis J. Goodman

1898

1872

George W. demons

1899

1872

Edward Crutch

1900

1872

William H. Plumb

1900

1872

Edward T. Harris

1901

1874

William Gibbs

1901

1874

Robert J. Landon

1901

187s

Truman Catlin

1902

1877

Charles L. Dudley

1903

1877

Edson L. Perkins

1903

1878

Ter ranee B. Doyle

190S

1879

William T. Marsh

1906

1880

George H. Hunt

1908

1880

William T. Doyle

1913

1880

Leman S. Brundage

1913

1881

Hector M. Richards

1914

i88i

George R. Crutch

1916

1884

Henry T. Weeks

1917

1885

William M. Murphy

1919

1721-1730

George H. Baldwin

1858-1862

1730-1735

Charles J. Deming*

1863-

1735-1736

E. Grossman

1863-186S

1736-1738

George M. Woodruff

1865-1868

1738-1742

Charles 0. Belden

1868-1871

1742-1773

Willis J. Beach

1871-1882

1773-1789

Charles C. Moore

1882-1883

1789-1826

George C. Woodruff

1883-1884

1826-1836

Walter S. Judd

1884-1886

1836-1840

Edward E. Champlin

1886-1903

1840-1841

John J. Karl

1903-191 I

1841-1854

George H. Hunt

1911-

1854-1855

1855-1858

*Resigned

Geurge H, HrxT. TnwN- Cf>;Ri:. 1920

'■-*ta.

Hon. Thomas F. Ryan, Postmaster, 1920

APPENDIX

309

c. Town Treasurers.

John Bird

1721-1736

Ebenezer Marsh

1801-1803

Joseph Bird

1736-1738

James Gould

1803-1811

John Buel

1738-1751

Samuel Buel

18H-1836

William Marsh

1751-1755

Isaac Lawrence

1836-1841

Supply Strong

1755-1763

George Dewey

1844-1845

Joshua Garrett

X763-1768

George C. Woodruff

184S-1846

Reuben Smith

1768-1770

Francis Bacon

1846-1847

Abraham Bradley

1770-1776

George C. Woodruff

1847-1851

William Stanton*

1776-

Frederick D. Beeraan

185 I -1854

Samuel Lyman

1776-1777

Lemuel 0. Meafoy

1855-1856

Reuben Smith

1777-1783

William F. Baldwin

1856-1859

Abraham Bradley

.1783-1787

Frederick D. McNeill

1859-1860

Moses Seymour

1787-1789

George M. Woodruff

1860-1906

Ebenezer Marsh

1789-1790

Frank W. Humphrey

1906-1910

Timothy Skinner

1790-1792

Philip P. Hubbard

1910-

Abraham Bradley

1792-1794

Benjamin Tallmadge

1794-1801

♦Resigned

d. Postmasters.

1. Litchfield.

Appointed

Benjamin Tallmadge

1792

Riverius Marsh

1861

Frederick Wolcott

Howard E. Gates

1866

Moses Seymour Jr.

Willis J. Beach

1886

Charles Seymour

Seth Pratt

1889

George C. Woodruff

Julius Deming

1893

Jason Whiting

Almon E. Fuller

1897

Reuben M. Woodruff

Seth Pratt

1902

Leverett W. Wessells

Rudolph Karl

1910

George H. Baldwin

1853

Thomas F. Ryan

1915

2. Northfield.

Daniel Catlin

1836

Frederick S. Porter

Samuel Merwin

J. Howard Catlin

1880

William Newton

Leonard L. Munson

1886

Levi Heaton

James P. Catlin

1887

John Catlin

i860

J. Howard Catlin

1914

3. Bantam.

William S. Plumb
William P. Grossman

Julia M. Buell
William P. Crossman

George W. Fairgrieve

1909

1893
1897

310

APPENDIX

D. CIVIL LISTS.

1. Original Proprietors.
This list contains the names of all the "original proprietors"
of the township.

From Hartford:

♦John Marsh (2 Rights)
Samuel Sedgwick Jr.
Nathaniel Goodwin
Timothy Seymour

*Paul Jeck Jr.

♦Joseph Mason
Nathaniel Messenger

♦Benjamin Webster

♦Joshua Garrett
Windsor :
Samuel Forward
Thomas Griswold Jr.

♦Jacob Gibbs

♦Joseph Birge

♦Benjamin Hosford
Farmington :
John Hart
Timothy Stanley

♦John Bird

♦Joseph Bird
Samuel Lewis
Ebenezer Woodruff
Samuel Root
Nathaniel Winchell
Hezekiah Winchell
Colchester :

♦Joseph Gillett
New Milford :
Jonathan Buck

Wethersfield :
♦William Goodrich Jr.
♦John Stoddard
♦Ezekiel Buck
♦Jacob Griswold

Lebanon :
♦John Buel (2 Rights)

Edward Culver
♦Hezekiah Culver
♦Thoma^ Lee
♦Eleazer Strong
♦Supply Strong

Caleb Chapel, (2 Rights)
♦Thomas Treadway

John Caulkins
Stratford :

Ezekiel Sanford (2 Rights)
♦Nathan Mitchell
♦Thomas Pier

John Mann

Joseph Peet

Samuel Somers
Taunton, Ms. :
♦Nath'l Smith (2 Rights)

John Collins

Ephraim French

Woodbury :

♦Josiah Walker

♦Samuel Orton

♦Joseph Waller

Isaac Judson

♦These proprietors became settlers in the town. The Rights
of a few others were settled upon by the sons of the first purchasers;
others sold out their interest to persons who became permanent;
while a few forfeited their shares by neglecting to comply with the
terms of the purchase.

2. First Settlers.

The following are the names of those who are regarded as "first
settlers" — or persons who became residents of the town during the
first three years of settlement:

Nehemiah Allen, Coventry Joseph Bird, Farmington

Joseph Birge, Windsor John Bird, Farmington

APPENDIX

Samuel Beebe, Danbury
John Baldwin, Stratford
Ezekiel Buck, Wethersfield
John Buel, Lebanon
Daniel Culver, Lebanon
Samuel Culver,Lebanon
Hezekiah Culver, Lebanon
Timothy Collins, Guilford
John Catlin, Hartford
James Church, Hartford
Joseph Gillett, Colchester
Abraham Goodwin, Hartford
Joshua Garritt, Hartford
William Goodrich, Wethersfield
Jacob Griswold, Wethersfield
John Gay, Dedham, Ms.
Benjamin Gibbs, Windsor
Jacob Gibbs, Windsor
Benjamin Hosford, Windsor
Joseph Harris, Middletown
Joseph Kilbourn, Wethersfield

Thomas Lee, Lebanon
John Marsh, Hartford
Joseph Mason, Hartford
Nathan Mitchell, Stratford
Samuel Orton, Woodbury
Edward Phelps, Windsor
Thomas Pier, Stratford
Paul Peck Jr., Hartford
John Peck, Hartford
John Stoddard, Wethersfield
Eleazer Strong Lebanon
Supply Strong, Lebanon
Joseph San ford, Stratford
Lemuel Sanford, Straford
Nathaniel Smith, Taunton, Ms.
John Smith, Taunton, Ms.
Samuel Smedley, Woodbury
Thomas Treadway, Lebanon
Benjamin Webster, Hartford
Josiah Walker, Woodbury
Joseph Waller, Woodbury

Nathaniel Woodruff, Farmington

3. List of Students at the Law School, selected from the 805
names in the catalogues of 1828, 1831, 1849, with the
public offices held by them.

No register of the students at the Law School prior to 1798
has been preserved, though it is said that the number up to that
time was 210, and we know that many of these were of distinction
at least equal to any in the following list.

Date Entered.

1798 Henry W. Edwards, Conn : U. S. Senator and Gov. of Conn.

Horatio Seymour, Conn. : U. S. Senator Vt, LL.D.

Daniel Sheldon, Conn. : Sec'y of Legation to France.

Henry Baldwin, Conn. : Judge Sup. Ct, U. S. Member of Cong., Penn.

Richard Skinner, Conn. : Chief Justice, and Gov. of Vt.

Joseph L. Smith, Conn. : Judge, East Florida.

Joseph Barnes, Mass. : Judge, Penn.

Benjamin Swift, Vt. : U. S. Senator.

Ogden Edwards, Conn.: Judge, N. Y.

Elisha Phelps, Conn. : Member of Congress.

1802 William Woodbridge, Ohio: U. S. Senator.

1803 Eldred Simkins, S. C. : Lieut. Gov. of S. C, and Member of Congress.
Seth P. Beers, Conn. : Speaker H. R. Conn, and Com. of School Fund.
Alfred Cuthbert, Ga. : Member of Congress and U. S. Senator.
John M. Felder, S. C. : Member of Congress.
John C. Calhoun, S. C. : Member of Cong, and Sen., Sec'y of War,

Sec'y of State, and Vice Pres. U. S., LL.D.

1798
1798
1798
1798
1800
1801
1801
1801
1801

1803
1804
180s
1805

312 APPENDIX

1805 John A. Collier, Conn.: Member of Congress, N. Y.

1805 Lemuel Whitman, Conn.: Member of Congress.

1805 Samuel Howe, Mass.: Judgev Mass.

1805 Virgil Maxcy, Md.: Charge d' Affaires to Belgium.

1806 Samuel Church, Conn.: Chief Jus. of Conn., LL.D.

1806 Marcus Morton, Mass.: Judge Sup. Court, Lieut. Gov. and Gov. Mass.

1806 Theron Metcalfe Mass.: Judge Sup. Court, Mass.

1806 Royal Hinman, Conn.: Secretary of State, Conn.

1806 Joel Crawford, Ga. : Member of Congress.

1807 Timothy H. Porter, N. H. : Member of Congress.
1807 Perry Smith, Conn.: U. S. Senator.

1807 Moulton C. Rogers, Del.: Judge, Penn.

1807 John A. Cuthbert, Ga. : Member of Congress.

1808 Jabez W. Huntington, Conn. : Member of Congress and U. S. Senator,

Judge Sup. Court, Conn.
1808 Charles De Menou, Md. : Charge d' Affaires of France at Washington.
1808 Silas Robbins, Conn.: Judge, Kentucky.
1808 John P. Cushman, Conn.: Member of Congress, and Judge, N. Y.

1808 Jonathan Hunt, Conn.: Member of Congress.

1809 Ebenezer Young, Conn.: Member of Congress.

1809 Levi Woodbury, N. H. : Judge and Gov. N. H., U. S. Senator, Sec.

of Navy and Treas., Judge Sup. Court, U. S.
1809 John PierponH, Conn.: Clergyman, Poet
1809 Henry W. Dwight, Mass.: Member of Congress.

1809 William Tenney, N. H.: Member of Congress.

1810 William D. Martin, S. C. : Member of Congress.

1810 Garrick Mallery, Penn.: Judge of Sup. Court, Penn., LL.D.

1810 William C. Gibbs, R. I.: Gov. R. L

1810 Charles S. Todd, Ky. : Minister to Russia.

1810 Edward F. Tatnall, Ga. : Member of Congress.

1810 James Booth, jun., Del.: Chief Justice of Delaware.

1810 Henry Shaw, N. Y. : Member of Congress.

1810 James G. King, N. Y. : Member of Congress.

181 1 William W. Ellsworth, Conn.: Member of Congress, Judge Sup. Court,

Gov. Conn., LL.D.
181 1 Milo L. Bennett, Conn.: Judge Sup. Court, Vermont, LL.D.
181 1 Henry L. Ellsworth, Conn.: Commissioner of Patents, U. S.
1811 Frederick Augustus Tallmadge, Conn.: Member of Congress, N. Y.,

Recorder City of N. Y.
181 1 Samuel S. Phelps. Conn.: Judge Sup. Court, Vermont, U. S. Senator.

181 1 Andrew D. W. Bruyn, N. Y. : Member of Congress.

1812 Benjamin Howard, Md. : Member of Congress.
1812 George B. Holt, Conn.: Judge, Ohio.

1812 Abraham Hasbrook: Member of Congress N. Y., Pres. Rutgers Col-
lege, N. J., LL.D.
1812 George B. Porter, Penn.: Gov. Michigan.
1812 Isaac T. Preston, Vir.: Judge Sup. Court, Louisiana.
1812 Kensey Johns, jun., Del.: Member of Congress, Chanc. of Delaware.

APPENDIX 313

1812 Roger Sherman Baldwin^ Conn. : Gov. Conn., U. S. Senator, LL.D.

1812 Albert C. Greene, R. I. : U. S. Senator.

1813 Edward King, N. Y. : Speaker House of Rep., Ohio.
1813 Oliver S. Halsted, N. J. : Chancellor of New Jersey.
1813 Elisha Whittlesey, Conn. : Member of Congress.
1813 Peleg Sprague, Mass.: U. S. Senator.

1813 Augustus B. Longstreet, Ga. : Judge Sup. Court Ga., LL.D., Pres. of

University of Miss., and College of S. C.
1813 Charles Hawley, Conn. : Lieut Gov. Conn.

1813 Moses Chapin, Mass. : Judge New York Court,

1814 Chester Ashley, N. Y. : U. S. Senator.

1814 Ebenezer Jackson, Jun., Ga. : Member of Congress.

1814 Timothy Childs, Jun., Mass. : Member of Congress

1814 John C, Nicholl, Ga. : Judge Sup. Court Ga., and U. S. Dist. Judge.

1815 John Pitcher, N. Y.: Lieut Gov. N. Y.

1815 William S. Holabird, Conn. : Lieut. Gov. Conn.
i8i6 Thomas F. Foster, Ga. : Member of Congress.

1816 Thaddeus G. Holt, Ga. : Judge Sup. Court, Ga.

1816 William W. Boardman, Conn. : Member of Congress.

1817 John M. Clayton, Del.: Chief Jus. Del., U. S. Sen^ Sec. of State, LL.D.
1817 Truman Smith, Conn. : Member of Congress and U. S. Senator.
1817 Lucius Q. C. Lamar, Ga. : Judge Supreme Court, Ga.

1817 Hiram P. Hunt, N. Y. : Member of Congress.

1817 William C. Dawson, Ga. : Judge of Sup. Ct Ga., U. S. Cong, and Sen.

1817 Charles H. Carroll, N, Y. : Member of Congress.

1817 John Y. Mason, Vir. : Mem. of Cong., Dist Judge, Gov., Sec. of Navy.

1818 Charles Chapman^ Conn.: U. S. Attorney for Conn.
1818 William T. Gould, Conn.: Judge Georgia.

1818 Walter S. Franklin, Penn. : Clerk H. R., U. S.

1818 Chester P. Butler, Penn.: Member of Congress.

1818 Thomas T. Whittlesey, Conn. : Member of Congress.

1818 Eli H. Baxter, Ga. : Judge Circuit Court.

1819 William B. Lawrence, N. Y. : Charge d'Aff aires at London.

1819 Frederick Whittlesey, Conn.: Member of Cong., Vice Chanc. and
Judge Sup. Court, N. Y.

1819 Hopkins Halsey, Ga. : Member of Congress.

1820 Samuel W. Oliver, Ga. : Speaker H. R., Ala.
1820 Noyes Billings, Conn. : Lieut. Gov., Conn.

1822 Horace Mann, Mass. : Member of Congress, Educator.

1822 Theron R. Strong, Conn. : Member of Cong., Judge Sup. Court, N. Y.

1823 Thomas Kinnecut, Mass. : Lieut Gov. Mass.

1823 Eugenius A. Nesbitt, Ga. : Member of Congress, Judge Sup. Court, Ga.

1823 Washington Poe, Ga. : Member of Congress.

1823 William J. Bacon, N. Y. : Judge Sup. Court

1823 Henry W. Greene, R. L : Chief Jus. Sup. Court and Chanc. of N. J.

1823 John M. Holley, Jun., Conn. : Member of Congress.

1824 John P. Jackson, N. J. : Speaker H. R., New Jersey.
1824 William V. Peck, Conn. : Judge Ohio.

314 APPENDIX

1824 Samuel Ames, R. I.: Chief Justice R. I.

1824 Origen S. Seymour, Conn. : Member of Congress, Judge Sup. Court

and Supreme Court of Errors, Chief Justice of Conn., LL.D.

1825 Elias W. Leavenworth, Mass.: Sec. of State, N. Y.^ Member Cong.
1825 Josiah Sutherland, Jun«, N. Y. : Mem. Cong., Judge Sup. Court, N. Y.
1825 Anson V. Parsons, Mass.: Judge Sup. Court, Penn.

1825 George C. Woodruff, Conn.: Member of Congress.

1825 John Pierpont, Conn.: Chief Justice, Vermont.

1826 Willis Hall, N. Y.: Attorney General, N. Y.

1826 William D. Pickett, N. C. : Judge Sup. Court, Ala.

1827 George S. Catlin, Conn.: Member of Congress.
1827 George Goul4 Conn.: Judge Sup. Court, N. Y.

1827 Augustus C. Hand, Vt. : Judge Sup. Court, N. Y.

1828 George W. Clinton, N. Y.: U. S. Attorney.

1828 Henry P. Edwards, Conn.: Judge Sup. Court, N. Y.

1829 Gideon Hall, Conn.: Judge Sup. Court.

1829 Henry W. Seymour, Conn.: Member of Congress, Minis, to Russia.

1830 Ward E. Hunt^ N. Y. : Judge Ct. of Appeals, N. Y., U. S. Supreme Ct.

1830 Lewis B. Woodruff, Conn. : Judge Sup. Court, N. Y., Court of Appeals,

Circuit Judge U. S. for Districts N. Y., Conn, and Vt.

1831 Philo C. Sedgwick, Conn.: Sec'y of State of Conn.
1833 Augustus R. Wright, Ga. : Judge Sup. Court, Ga.

E. BUSINESS AND PKOFESSIONAL— 1920.

ANTIQUE FURNITURE
Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe — Smith, Ralph P. and Harris, Thomas 1892

ARTESIAN WELL DRILLERS
Whitehill, W. W. and Son IQ"

ARTS and CRAFTS
The Gift Shop— Sanford, Miss Margaret S. ipip

AUTO REPAIR SHOPS

Johnson, Carroll 1919

Bantam Auto Repair Shop— Baldwin, J. W. and Phelps, E. O. Bantam 1919

(Successors to Flynn & Doyle)

AUTO SUPPLIES and LIVERY
Cowan, Joseph 1917. Parsons, E. D., Bantam 1916

BARBERS

Brunetto, M. A., Bantam 1916 Mayer, Joseph 1900

Sepples, William 1914

BLACKSMITHS

Brennan, Patrick 1917 Morse, W. Beach 1913

(Successor to A. K. Taylor)

APPENDIX 315

COAL, WOOD and TRUCKING.

Newcomb & Barber— Newcomb, F. U. and Barber, C. P. 1918

(Successors to Marsh & Newcomb)

COBBLERS
Donohue, Thomas 1867 Guinchi, Mrs. A. 1906

CONFECTIONERY STORE
The Palace Confectionery— Theophilos, George I905

CONTRACTORS and BUILDERS
Deacon, George D. 1913 Landon, Robert J., Bantam 1895

Hotchkiss, Fdk. A., Bantam 1900 Switzer, George J. 1894

Schusteri, Wolf 1910

CONTRACTOR and MASON
Da Ross, John 1912 Dean, George B. 1880

CREAMERY
Beach, Milo D. ipoo

DENTISTS
Fenn, H. H. 1888 Spain, William C 1918

DOCTORS

Buel, John L. 1890 Page, Charles I. Jr. 1897

Deming, Nelson L. 1907 Sedgwick, James T. 1887

Marcy, Robert A. 1908 Turkington, Charles H. 1910

Warner, Charles N. 1897

DRUGGISTS
Crutch & Marley— Crutch, Aaron and Marley, William 1918

(Successors to Crutch's Pharmacy)
Wheeler Drug Co.— Kaehrle, Alfred; Sepples, John and Sepples,

Richard (Successors to Wheeler's Pharmacy, established 1870) 1918

DRY GOODS MERCHANTS

Bissell, W. Jerome 1888 Granniss, W. G. 1881

(Successor to Granniss & Elmore)

EDITORS and PRINTERS
The Progressive Printery— Smith, Sheldon, Bantam 1919

Litchfield Enquirer— Woodruff, George C. 1894

ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS
Morse, Harry B. 1915 Turkington, William E. 1907

FISH, FRUIT and VEGETABLES
Moraghan, Martin J. 1909

3i6 APPENDIX

FLORIST

Mattson, CliflFord C. I9i8

FRUIT and VEGETABLES

Bnmetto, M. A. (Successor to Eugene Small )> Bantam 1916

FURNITURE DEALER and FUNERAL DIRECTOR

Smith, George A. (Successor to A. E. Fuller) 1897

GARAGE

Johnson, Herbert E. IQIS

GENERAL STORES

Ackerman, Jacob (Successor to H. T. Register), Milton 1916

Catlin, J. Howard (Successor to L. L. Munson), Northfield 1917

Morey & Perkins— Morey, A. C. and Perkins, Willis; Bantam 1912

(Successors to Watts & Morey)

Platts, Raymond (Successor to James Catlin), Northfield 1915

GRAIN and FEED

Dickinson, I. T., Milton 1892 Seelyo, F. M., Bantam 1908

The Wadhams Co. — F. L. and Son (Successors to E. C. Snowman) 1913

GROCERS

Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. 1917 Anderson, W. H., Bantam 1915

Chapin & Birk — Chapin, J .and Birk, E. (Successors to W. G. Granniss) 1919
Lynch, H. F.— (Successor to C. W. Hinsdale) 1916

HARDWARE and PLUMBING

Allen, W. B.— (Successor to E. B. Allen Co.) 1884

Moraghan, M. V. 191 1

HARNESS MAKER

Franzosi, Alfredo 1914

HOTEL

Phelps' Tavern — Phelps, Eugene L. 191 1

ICE

Litchfield Ice Co. — Crutch, George R. 1919

INSURANCE

Clark, F. North 1914 Kirwin, James 1919

Clock, Elgin 1899 Mason, Frank B, 1900

LAUNDRY

The Sunshine Laundry — Barber, T. Lynn 1919

Ching, George 1916

APPENDIX 317

LAWYERS

Hubbard, John T. 1883 Ryan, Thomas F. 1905

Lancaster & Foord — Lancaster, Woodruff, George M. 1859

John H. 1910 Woodruff, James P. 1893

Foord, William M. 1919

MASON SUPPLIES and TRUCKING

Goodman, Louis J. 1900

MEAT DEALERS

Hannon, John J. 1908 Watson, F. I., Northfield 1919

Kilbourn Brothers — Kilbourn, Carl and Kilbourn, Harry; Bantam 1918

The Standard Market, Weir, Edward J. (Successor to D. H. Burns) 1912

MEN'S FURNISHINGS and SHOE STORE
Denegar, L. R. 1886 Smith Brothers 1916

MILLINER
Biglow, Mrs. H. F. 1899

MOVING PICTURES
Barber, George 1913 Retallick, Thomas; Bantam 1919

PAINTERS and DECORATORS

Bergin, William F. 1912 Potter, E. F. 1898

Herbert^ William 1919 Rosbach, W. G. 1887

Oviatt, William; Bantam 1914 Devins, Edward 1907

PHOTOGRAPHERS
Karl Brothers— Karl Brothers 1900

PRINTERS
Karl, Ernest 1900

REAL ESTATE
DuflFie, C. R. 1901 Roberts, Mrs. Marion P. 1919

RESTAURANTS

Artikis, Louis 1918 Theophilos, George 1908

Manlakes, Nick ; Bantam 1919

TAILORS
Aragona, T. 1919

TRUCKING
Richardson, Levalli; Bantam 1916

VULCANIZING
Kelly, Joseph 1919

3i8 APPENDIX

F. ORGANIZATIONS.

ST. PAUL'S LODGE, NO. 11.
FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS.

Organized as St. Paul's Lodge, No. 16, by charter granted June
13, 1781; incorporated March 4, 1881, as St. Paul's Lodge, No. 11.

From Act of Incorporation; "That the officers and members of
St. Paul's Lodge, No. 11, of Litchfield, Free and Accepted Masons,
and such other persons as may succeed them or become members
thereof, be and they hereby are constituted a body corporate and
politic, by the name of St. Paul's Lodge, No. 11, of Litchfield, to be
located in Litchfield, for the purpose of aiding indigent, sick and
infirm Free Masons, and their widows and orphans, and by that
name may receive by gift or devise, purchase, take, hold and con-
vey real or personal estate necessary and convenient for such
purposes, to an amount not exceeding ten thousand dollars ..."

Past Masters.

Ashbel Baldwin

I 781 -I 782

Alexander B. Shumway

1868-1870

Benjamin Hanks

I 782-1 786

Elbert G. Roberts

1870-1871

Jonathan Kettle

1786-1788

Samuel W. Ensign

1871-1872

Julius Deming

1788-1790

Edson Staples

1872-1874

Isaac Baldwin Jr.

1790-1793

William Deming

1874-1875

Ephraim Kirby

1798-1799

Elbert G. Roberts

1875-1876

Isaac Baldwin Jr.

1799-1801

Charles H. Piatt

1876-1878

Ephraim Kirby

1801-1803

Walter K. Peck

1878-1879

Aaron Smith

1803-1806

James J. Newcomb

1879-1880

Peter Sherman

1806-1808

Alexander B. Shumway

1880-1881

Aaron Smith

1808-1812

W. Jerome Bissell

1881-1882

Roger Cook

1812-1814

Alexander B. Shumway

1882-1883

Lucius Smith

1814-1815

Eugene W. Meafoy

1883-1884

Elijah Adams

1815-1816

W. Jerome Bissell

1884-1886

Lucius Smith

1816-1819

George E. Jones

1886-1887

David Marsh

1819-1822

William R. Coe

1887-1888

James Winship

I 822- I 823

WiUiam T. Marsh

1888-1890

Phineas Lord

I 823- I 824

Weston G. Grannissf

1890-1891

Phineas B. Taylor

1824-1828

William T. Marsh

1891-1892

Frederick Buel

1828-1831

Neal D. Benedict

1892-1893

Heman W. Childs

1831-1837

William H. Wheeler

1893-1894

Samuel Buel 2d

1837-1843

Austin S. Wheeler

1894-1896

Stephen Deming

1843- 1846

Wheaton F. Dowd

1896-1898

Charles L. Webb

I 846- I 849

William S. Plumb

1898-1899

Phineas B. Taylor

I 849- I 850

Edwin F. Potter

1899-1901

Frederick Buel

1850-1852

C. I. Page Jr.

1901-1902

Frederick D. Beeman

1852-1854

George C. Woodruff

1902-1903

David E. Bostwick*

1854-1866

William S. McLaren

1903-1904

Eli D. Weeks

1866-1868

William E. Turkington

1904-1905

APPENDIX

319

George C. WoodruflF 1905-1906

C. J. Ramsey 1906-1908

E. F. Potter 1908-1909

R. F. Shinn 1909-1910

J. P. Woodruff 1910-1911

E. B. Perkins 1911-1912

Harold K. Switzer, Master 1919-
T. Lynn Barber, Senior Warden
Brandt B. Conklin, Junior Warden
W. Jerome Bissell, Treasurer
W. S. Plumb, Secretary
Elton R. Skilton. Senior Deacon

George Barber
Harry B. Morse
J. L .Buel
N. A. Dains
M. Z. Westervelt
C. D. Kilbourn

1912-1913
1913-1914
1914-1915
191S-1916
1916-1917
1917-1919

Charles F. Deno, Junior Deacon
Robert W. Landon, Senior Steward
C. T. Hotchljiss, Junior Steward
E. F. Potter, Chaplain
W. Beach Morse, Tyler
*Grand Master 1864; t^909-

Roger Searls

William Deming

A. B. Shumway

Edson Staples

E. W. Meafoy

W. E. Turkington, Capt. of the Host

W. G. Granniss, Principal Sojourner

Albert E. Conklin, Royal Arch Capt.

William Miller, 2nd Vail

DARIUS CHAPTER, NO. 16.
ROYAL ARCH MASONS.
Organized October 19, 1815.

Past High Priests.

1815 W. F. Dowd

W. J. Bissell 1882-85, 1888-1920

Brandt Conklin, High Priest

William Crutch, King

E. L. Phelps, Scribe

Archibald E. MacDonald, 3rd Vail

Wilbur B. Morse, Tyler

George R. Crutch, Secretary

W. G. Granniss, Treasurer

BUEL COUNCIL NO. 20.

ROYAL AND SELECT MASONS.

Organized May 12, 1853.

Thrice Illustrious Masters.

1853 A. B. Shumway

Frederick Buel
Charles O. Belden

W. G. Granniss

William Crutch, Right Illustrious
Deputy Master

Albert E. Conklin, Principal Con-
ductor of Work

W. B. Morse, Tyler

W. J. Bissell
1892-
W. E. Turkington, Secretary
W. J. Bissell, Treasurer
E. L. Phelps, Capt. of the Guard
Aaron Crutch, Conductor

EPHRAIM KIRBY CHAPTER, NO. 75

ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR.

Organized May 3, 1910.

The Order of the Eastern Star exists for the purpose of giving

practical effect to one of the beneficent purposes of Freemasonry,

320

APPENDIX

wMch is to provide for the welfare of the wives, danghters, mothers,
widows, and sisters of Masons.

Worthy Matrons.
Hattie E. Mason 1910-1911 Florence L. C. Lynch 1916-

Anna B. Plumb 1912-1913 Edith H. Crutch 1917-1918

Orah E. Kaehrle 1914-1915 Anna B. Plumb 1919-

Frances I. Barber, Associate Matron Anna A. Marley, Treasurer
Evaleen M. Switzer, Secretary

LITCHFIELD GRANGE NO. 107,

PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY

Organized November 13, 1889.

The aim of the Patrons of Husbandry is to promote interest in
agriculture, and cooperative buying and selling; to develop a better
and higher manhood and womanhood, to suppress personal, local,
sectional, and national prejudices, all unhealthy rivalry and selfish
ambition, as well as to bring the farmers in various parts of the
country into closer contact with each other.

Masters.
1889-1891 Frederick A. Stoddard

George W. Mason
John Q. Ames 1891-1893

Charles D. Kilbourn 1893-1894

William H. Plumb 1894-1895

Whitman S. Osborn 1895-1896

William B. Morse 1896-1898

Frederick A. Stoddard 1898-1899
Fred L. Tharp 1899-1901

Joseph H. Putnam 1901-1903

Joseph D. Coffin
Leonard Dickinson, Overseer

1903-1904

Fred B. Plumb 1904-1906

Wilbur F. Webster 1906-1907

E. W. Bigelow 1907-1909

George F. Sanford 1909-1911

Fred L. Tharp 1911-1912

Willey D. Buell 1912-1914

George B. Stoddard 1914-1916

Lewis A. Osborn 1916-1918

1918-

Frederick A. Stoddard, Secretary

William B. Morse, Treasurer
BEACON GRANGE NO. 118, PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY.

Northfield

. Organized October 14, 1890.
Masters.

L. G, Humphreville

1890-1892

C. S. Hulme

I 906-1 907

E. A. Hopkins

1892-1894

Henry Gill

1907-1909

L. G. Humphreville

1894-1895

C. S. Nearing

1909-1910

H. B. Peck

1895-1897

Henry Gill

1910-1911

E. A. Hopkins

1897-1900

R. A. Goodwin

1911-1914

C. S. Nearing

1900-1902

Harry Borgeson

1914-1915

E. A. Hopkins

1902-1904

C. S. Hulme

1915-1917

Charles S. Hulme

1904-1905

R. A. Goodwin

1917-

E. A. Hopkins

1905-1906

Charles S. Hulme, Secretary

F. M. Blakeslee, Treasurer

APPENDIX 321

ST. ANTHONY'S COUNCIL NO. 56, KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS.

Organized June 21, 1890.

In addition to insurance, the Boiights of Columbus seek to unite
men of the Soman Catholic Church upon a common plane of devo-
tion to God, to church, and to country. The principles of the Knights
of Columbus are included under the headings of Charity, Unity,
Fraternity, and Patriotism.

Grand Knights.
Michael Kirwin 1890-1919 William W. Sepples 1919-

Edward A. Brennan, Deputy G. K. Martin J. Bierne, Fin, Secy.

Albert J. Hausmann, Rec. Sec. Matthew E. Brennan, Treasurer

John J. Weir, Chancellor Rev. J. L. McGuinness, Chaplain

Thomas F. Ryan, Advocate Frank L. Doyle, Inside Warden

THE EMMA DEMING COUNCIL NO. 265

CATHOLIC WOMEN'S BENEVOLENT LEGION.

Organized August 1, 1907.

The Emma Deming Council No. 265 is a fraternal and insur-
ance society.

Presidents.
Mrs. Alice Maguire 1907-1908 Miss Mary V. Kirwin 1913-1915

Miss Mary V. Kirwin 1908-1910 Mrs. Mary R. Phelps 1915-1916

Miss Margaret Hausmann 1910-1912 Miss Mary V. Kirwin 1917-

Mrs. Alice Maguire 1912-1913

Mrs. Mary R. Phelps, Vice-Pres. Miss Leonie Rey, Treasurer

Miss Katheryn Burns, Secretary Mrs. Joanna Meagher, Collector

ST. ANTHONY'S R. C. TOTAL ABSTINENCE and BENEA' OLENT

SOCIETY.

Organized February 20, 1916.
St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Total Abstinence Society is part
of the great organized movement known as "The Catholic Total
Abstinence Union of America". The motto of the organization is
moral suasion. With prohibitory laws, restrictive license systems
and special legislation it has nothing Avhatever to do.

The Litchfield branch of this society has rooms for social and
organization purposes in the Bishop Block on West Street.

Presidents.
P. C. Burke 1916-1917 Hubert A. Higgins 191/-

Dennis Carr, Vice-Pres. James Rogers, Rec. Sec.

Bernard T. Nolan, Sec. and Treas.

322 APPENDIX

SOCIETA ITALIANA DI MUTUO SOCCORSO DI LITCHFIELD.
Organized December 1, 1918.
An Italian mutual benefit society.

Presidents.
Alfredo Franzosi 1918-1919 Tullto Aragona 1919-

Primo Strada, Vice-Pres. Gino Valmoretti, Fin. Sec.

Frank Valeri, Rec. Sec. Frank Fabbri, Treas.

MARY FLOYD TALLMADGE CHAPTER, D. A. R.
Organized November 17, 1899.

The objects of this Society are:

1. To perpetuate the memory of the men and women who
achieved American Independence, by the acquisition and protection
of historical spots, and the erection of monuments ; by the encourage-
ment of historical search in relation to the Revolution and the pub-
lication of its results; by the preservation of documents and relics,
and of the records of the individual services of Revolutionary
soldiers and patriots, and by the promotion of celebrations of all
patriotic anniversaries.

2. To carry out the injunction of Washington in his farewell
address to the American people, "to promote, as an object of prim-
ary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge",
thus developing an enlightened public opinion, and affording to
young and old such advantages as shall develop in them the largest
capacity for performing the duties of American citizens.

3. To cherish, maintain, and extend the institutions of Ameri-
can freedom, to foster true patriotism and love of country, and to
aid in securing for mankind all the blessings of liberty.

Regents.
Mrs. John Laidlaw Buel 1899-1908 Mrs. Edward W. Seymour 1909-1917
Mrs. Short Adam Willis 1908-1909 Mrs. George C. Woodruff 1917-1919

Mrs. William Scott Plumb 1919-
Miss Clarisse C. Deming, Vice-Regt. Miss Elizabeth Deming, Corres. Sec.
Miss Cornelia B. Smith, Registrar Mrs. Robert A. Marcy, Treasurer

Mrs. Martin G. Wright, Rec. Sec. Mrs. Elbert B. Hamlin. Historian

Mrs. Alex. T. VanLaer, Chaplain

SETH F. PLUMB POST, NO. 80, O. A. R.

Organized May 1886.

A national association of vetei-ans of the Civil War. ''On June
1917, the records of the Seth F. Plumb Post, No. 80, Dept. of Conn.,
were formally turned over to the Litchfield Historical Society by

APPENDIX

323

the Commander, L. D. Leonard, and other officers of the Post, the
officers of the Historical Society having kindly consented to place
them in their archives for preservation. The Seth F. Plumb Post
was practically disbanded at this time, although the few remaining
members continued to attend Memorial Day Services". Note by
Admiral G. P. Colvocoresses, added to the last record book of the
Post.

Leverett W. Wessells

1887-

J. W. Wheeler

1896-

A. B. Shumway

1888-

Charles Merriman

1897-

L. D. Leonard

1889-

Charles W. Hinsdale

1898-1899

John Q. Ames

1890-

W. K. Stockbridge

1899-1902

W. H. Plumb

1891-

Edgar A. Alvord

1903-

H. T. Cable

1892-

A. B. Shumway

1903- I 905

T. A. Smith

1893-

S. A. Whittlesey

1906-

George W. Mason

1894-

George W. Mason

1906-1909

D. C. Kilbourn

189s-

L. D. Leonard

1909-1916

MORGAN WEIR POST, No. 27, AMERICAN LEGION.
Organized August 1, 1919.

The American Legion is a national organization of Veterans of
the World War. Its objects are as follows: "To uphold and defend
the Constitution of the United States of America; to maintain law
and order; to foster and perpetuate a one-hundred-per-cent Ameri-
canism; to preserve the memories and incidents of the associations
of the members in the great war; to inculcate a sense of individual
obligation to the community, state and nation; to combat the autoc-
racy of both the classes and the masses; to make right the master
of might; to promote peace and good will on earth; to safeguard
and transmit to posterity the principles <5f justice, freedom and
democracy and to consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our
devotion to mutual helpfulness".

W. M. Foord, Post Com. 1920- Sutherland A. Beckwith. Historian

Dr. Chas. H. Turkington, Vice-Com. Albert W. Clock, Finance Officer
Edward A. Brennan. Adjutant Archibald A. MacDonald. Chaplain

R. P. JEFFRIES POST, No. 44, AMERICAN LEGION, BANTAM.

Organized October 3, 1919.
R. W. Landon. Post. Com. 1919- Clifford Moore, Treasurer

Frank E. Wedge. Vice-Commander Bruce Jeffries, Chaplain

Samuel Leithiser, Adjutant Andrew Terek, Historian

TROOP NO. 1, BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA.

Organized February 12, 1915.

The Boy Scouts of America, is a corporation formed by a group
of men who are anxious that the boys of America should come under

324 APPENDIX

the influence of this movement and be built up in all that goes
to make character and good citizenship.

Scout Masters.
Dr. A. E. Childs 1915-1918 Edward Pikosky 1918-1919

Samuel P. Griffin, Assistant Albert Hausmann 1919-

Troop Committee.
Dr. A. E. Childs M. J. Moraghan

Samuel P. Griffin

TROOP No. 2, BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA.

Organized January 10, 1917.

Scout Masters.
J. L. Mower 191 7- J- L- Kirwin, Asst. 1917-

Troop Committee.
Dr. A. E. Childs M. J. Moraghan

Rev. William J. Brewster

BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA, NORTHFIELD.
Organized 1918.
Rev. W. Humiston^ Scoutmaster 1918-

GIRL SCOUTS.

Organized 1915.

The purpose of this organization is to train girls to be good
citizens, through natural contacts of work and play; to give them
healthy ideals, to keep them physically fit, to broaden their inter-
ests and to increase their capabilities.

Captains.
Mrs. Baillie Ripley 1915-1917 Mrs. Richard Chisolm 1917-

Miss Blanche Richardson 1916-1917 Miss Elizabeth Deming 1917-1918
Miss Dorothy Bull 1918-

LITCHFIELD CHAPTER, AMERICAN RED CROSS.
Organized May 21, 1898, as Red Cross Auxiliary No. 16.

Red Cross Auxiliary No. 16 was reorganized October 5, 1900 as
Auxiliary No. 5; became Sub-Division No. 1, July 11, 1905; became
Litchfield County Chapter, March 1910; became Litchfield Chapter,
April 3, 1917.

"The purpose of this Chapter shall be to aid the work of the
American National Red Cross, in time of war by participating
vigorously and loyally in furnishing such relief as may be necessary

APPENDIX 325

for the Army and Navy, or other forces of the country, and in
furnishing Civilian Relief for the dependents of soldiers and sailors,
and in tinie of peace by responding to general appeals for relief
made by the Central Committee, by providing systematic relief in
cases of disaster, and in general by rendering relief or performing
service in conformity with the Charter and By-laws of the American
National Red Cross and such policies and regulations as the Cen-
tral Committee may from time to time establish".

Chairmen-
Mrs. George M. WoodruflF 1898-1905 Rear-Adm'l Colvocoresses 1910-1919
Mrs. S. A. Willis 1905-1910 Miss Cornelia B. Smith 1919-

William J. Brewster, Vice-Ch. Florence E. Ennis, Corres. Sec.

Mrs. John L. Buel, Rec. Sec. Esther H. Thompson, Treas.

LITCHFIELD BRANCH, CONN. INDIAN ASSOCIATION.

Organized 1881.

The purpose of the Indian Association is to extend financial
aid to the Indians, to carry on medical and hospital work among
them, and to maintain an Indian mission at Fort Hall, Idaho.

Presidents.
Mrs. Allan McLean 1908-1910 Miss Josephine E. Richards 1910-1918

Mrs. G. P. Colvocoresses 1919-

Miss Mary P. Quincy, Vice-Pres. Miss Kate H. M. Sylvester, Treas.

Mrs. Frederick Deming, Secretary

THE LITCHFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Organized August 3, 1893. Incorporated 1897.

The object of the Society, according to its constitution, is "to
discover, procure, and preserve whatever may relate to the civil,
military, literary and ecclesiastical history and biography in gen-
eral, and of the County of Litchfield, and the State of Connecticut
in particular; to investigate and preserve such traditions as now
exist only in the memory of aged persons; to establish and main-
tain a iibrary for general reference, also procure and main-
tain collection's in archeology, art and of the natural history of
Litchfield County, and in general to encourage study and research,
particularly that relating to local historj^ biography, antiquities and
natural history, and to disseminate information relative thereto".

In 1901 the Society took posession of the museum and lecture
room, especially provided for its uses in the beautiful building
given by Mr. .John A. Yanderpoel as a memorial to his grandmother,
Julia F. Tallmadge Noyes, widow of William Curtis Noyes. Here
are on exhibition the collections of the Society, consisting of Indian,
Colonial, Revolutionary and modern local and other objects. Notable

326 APPENDIX

among these is the collection of ten portraits and a landscape by
Balph Earle, the American painter, who visited Litchfield in 1796.
The Litchfield Scientific Association, which was organized in
1903 was merged with the Historical Society in 1919, and its col-
lections, which are housed in the Noyes Memorial Building, now
form part of those of the Historical Society.

Presidents.
Rev. S. O. Seymour, D.D. 1893-1918 Hon. George M. Woodruff 1918-
Mrs. J. A. Vanderpoel, ist Vice-Pres. Alain C. White, Cor. Sec. & Treas.
Cornelius R. Duffie, Rec. Sec.

THE WOLCOTT and LITCHFIELD CIRCULATING LIBRABY.

Wolcott Library organized May 27, 1862; Litchfield Circulating
Library organized on June 2, 1870. Consolidated in 1903.

The Wolcott Library was so-called in honor of a generous donor,
J. Huntington Wolcott, whose family coat of arms was adopted as
the arms of the Library Association. The library was housed in
the brick building on South Street, now known as the Telephone
Building, and was a reference library. Dues were paid for life
membership, .$2.00 originally, raised to $3.00 in 1863,

The Litchfield Circulating Library was organized at a meeting
held on Jmie 2, 1870, in Dr. David E. Bostwick's house, which stood
on the site of the present Library Building. The books were kept
for many years in the house of Mrs. Mary C. Hickox, who was the
first librarian.

The dues were fixed at $3.00 for membership, and were trans-
ferable. Persons paying $1.00 were entitled to the benefit of the
Library for one year, but not to membership. It was provided in
the By-Laws that on the first Thursday of every month a meeting
should be held at which should be sold at auction the use for a
month of books, magazines, etc., not more than four books to be
bid off by one member or yearly subscriber, and no bid of less than
two cents should be accepted.

At stated periods, to be fixed by the Librarian, between each
monthly sale, books returned or remaining unsold, might be taken
out by members and subscribers on payment of ten cents a volume,
"half to go into the treasury and half to go to the Librarian for his
trouble". This method of distributing the books by auction was
kept up until January, 1877, when a graded scale of charges was
fixed, of ten cents for each volume for the fifty volumes of the
highest numbers, five tents for all others down to No. 500, and
three cents for all others, for two weeks usx These rates were altered
from time to time.

The Wolcott and Litchfield Circulating Library was formed
in 1903, by the consolidation of the two existing libraries. The
present building was the gift of John Arent Vanderpoel, in memory

APPENDIX

327

of his grandmother Julia Tallmadgei Noyes. The Library was made
free to the general public. The Mary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter
of the D. A. R. was largely instrumental in raising the money for
the purchase of the site and the endowment fund.

Wolcott Library Association.

Presidents.

Dr. Henry W. Buel 1862-1894 Rev. S. O. Seymour, D.D. 1900-1903

George A. Hickox 1894-1900

Librarians.

George A. Hickox 1862-1863 Mrs. Harriet B. Belden 1883-1886

William L. Ransom 1863-1881 Mrs. Mary J. Buel 1887-1902

Mrs. Mary C. Hickox 1882- Miss Susan Mason 1902-

Miss Katharine Baldwin 1902-1903

Litchfield

Dr. David E. Bostwick
Mrs. Adelaide Bostwick
Edward W. Seymour
George M. Woodruff
George A. Hickox
Dr. Howard E. Gates
George A. Hickox

Mrs. Mary C. Hickox
Mrs. E. W. Seymour
Mrs. Mary J. Buel
Mrs. D. E. Bostwick
Mrs. E. G. Roberts
Mrs. H. W. Wessells
Mrs. C. H. Piatt
Miss Annie Roberts

Circulating Library Association.

Presidents.

George M. Woodruff 1876-

1870- George A. Hickox 1877-

187 1- Mrs. E. G. Roberts 1878-1879

1872- A. B. Shumway 1880- 1884

1873- George C. Woodruff 1885-

1874- George M. Woodruff 1886-1901

1875- Dr. John L. Buel 1902-1903
Librarians.

1870-1871 Miss Nellie Tompkins 1880-1881

1872- Mrs. Mary C. Hickox 1882-

1873- Mrs. H. B. Belden 1883-1884

1874- Mrs. H. W. Wessells 1885-

1875- Mrs. H. B. Belden 1886-

1876- Mrs. Mary J. Buel 1887-1901
1877-1878 Miss Susan Mason 1902-
1879- Miss Katharine Baldwin 1902-1903

Wolcott and Litchfield Circulating Library.

Presidents.
Rev. S. O. Seymour, D.D. 1903-1918 George M. Woodruff 1918-

Alain C. White, Secretary Charles H. Coit, Treasurer

Miss Katharine Baldwin* Librarian 1903-

NORTHFIELD WOMEN'S LITERARY CLUB.
Organized 1893.
A social club for the study of literature, history and science,

and for local civic work.

Presidents.
Mrs. Louise A. Wooster 1893-1894 Mrs. Ella Catlin

1894-1895

328 APPENDIX

Miss Ella J. Curtiss 1895-1896 Miss Ella J. Curtiss 1903-1904

Mrs. Elizabeth W. Pond 1896-1897 Mrs. Gertrude Peck 1904-1905

Mrs. Gertrude Peck 1897-1898 Miss Ella J. Curtiss 1905-1909

Mrs. Laura Peck 1898-1899 Mrs. Grace Humphreville 1909-191G

Mrs. F. S. Grant 1899-1900 Miss Ella J. Curtiss 1910-1911

Miss Ella J. Curtiss 1900-1902 Mrs. Grace Humphreville 1911-1912

Mrs. Amelia Ray 1902-1903 Miss Ella J. Curtiss 1912-

Mrs. F. M. Blakeslee, Vice-Pres. Miss Lucy Beatson, Treasurer
Mrs. Louise A. Wooster, Secretary

THE CANST AN AW ACT A CLUB.

Organized January 21, 1915.

The purpose of the club is to pay the fees of the Bantam Libra-
rian and to buy new books for the Library.

Presidents.

Ruth E. Curnalia 1915- Eva Swartfiguer 1916-

Mildred E. Beers 1915- Mrs. Raymond Brown 1917-

Ruth Edwards 1916- Ruth Ravenscroft 1917-1919

Mrs. Raymond Brown 1919-

Ruby Mattson, Vice-Pres. Mary T. Dempsey, Secretary

Mrs. Clifford Hotchkiss, Treasurer

THE SHAKESPEARE CLUB.

Orjranized 1915.

A social club devoted to the reading of the plays of Shakespeare.
Rev. F. J. Goodwin, Leader 191 5- Miss Ruth Mathews, Secretary

THE MEN'S FORUM.

Organized April 22, 1908.

The object of the society is to hold meetings for social inter-
course, and the discussion of subjects of common interest, and to
engage in any movement for the good of the community that may
seem best to the members.

Presidents.

James P. Woodruff 1908- Storrs O. Seymour, D.D. 1913-

Charles Rood 1909- Dr. Albert E. Childs 1914-1915

R. K. Biglow 1910- John T. Hubbard 1916-1917

F. North Clark 191 1- Rev. William J. Brewster 1918-

W. B. Allen 1912- F. North Clark 1919-

Dr. A. E. Childs, Sec. and Treas.

APPENDIX 329

A
THE WOMEIN'S FORUM.

Organized March 1914.

The Women's Forum was organized to secure an interchange of
thought on any subject of general interest.

Presidents.
Mrs. A. T. Van Lear 1914-1916 Mrs. A. T. Van Laer* 1919-

Miss Adelaide Deming 1916-1917 Mrs. William T. Marsh 1919-

Mrs. John Laidlaw Buel 1917-1919 *Resigrned.
Mrs. Ellsworth F. Miner, Secretary Mrs. Frank Mathews, Treasurer

THE LITCHFIELD VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT COMPANY.

Incorporated April 24, 1875.

The purpose for which this Company was formed is to make
improvements in the Village of Litchfield, its streets, parks, public
grounds and public buildings; and to purchase, erect and maintain
new ones; and to do all things incidental to said business, and to
the proper management thereof.

Presidents.

George M. Woodruff

1875-1876

J. Deming Perkins

1888-1889

J. Deming Perkins

1876-1877

A. E. Fuller

1889-1911

George M. Woodruff

1877-1885

Seymour Cunningham

1911-1913

Charles H. Coit

1885-1886

A. T. Van Laer

1913-1919

A. E. Fuller

1886-1888

Alain C. White

1919-

Clara Kenney, Secretary

Esther H. Thompson,

Treasurer

LITCHFIELD DISTRICT NURSING ASSOCIATION.

Organized November 1914, in affiliation with the Public Health
Nursing Service of the American Red Cross.

The District Nursing Association has for its objects; to provide,
adequate public health nursing ser\'iee for the township of Litch-
field, through a trained public health nurse, with every facility to
enable her to work to the best advantage; and to assist in improving
the health and social welfare of the conmiunity, through its Board
of Directors and trained workers, and to dispense material relief
through its Auxiliary Committee.

Miss H. M. Richards, Pres. 1914- Mrs. G. P. Colvocoresses, Secretary

Rev. William J. Brewster, Vice-Pres. Mrs. E. P. Roberts, Treasurer

Nurses.
Miss Ada Snowden 1914-1916 Mrs. Carolyn Wright 1918-

Miss Genevieve Robb 1916-1918 Miss Emma B. Brown 1918-

THE LITCHFIELD HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION.

Organized December 26, 1906.

The Litchfield High School Alumni Association is a voluntary
body formed for the purpose of promoting good feeling and loyalty

33P APPENDIX

among the graduates of the Litchfield High School, and among those
who from time to time, may be associated with them.

Presidents.
Dr. Henry H. Fenn 1906-1908 James L. Kirwin 1912-1914

George R. Crutch 1908-1910 Rudolph Karl 1914-1916

William A. Crutch 1910-1912 Albert W. Clock 1916-

William L. Herbert, Vice-Pres. Dora L. Stoddard, Sec. and Treas.

PARENT TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.

Organized November 4, 1914.

The Parent-Teachers' Association was organized for the purpose
of bringing into close relations the home and school, that parent and
teacher may cooperate intelligently in the education of the child.

Presidents.
Mrs. Philip P. Hubbard 1914-1915 Mrs. Milo D. Beach 1916-1917

Mrs. J. H. Reynolds 1915-1916 Mrs. W. S. Plumb 1917-1919

Mrs. R. Dunscomb Sanford 1919-
Miss Adelaide Deming, Secretary Mrs. Stanley Coe. Treasurer

THE CONNECTICUT JUNIOR REPUBLIC.
Established 1904; incorporated July 1, 1909.

The Connecticut Junior Republic was established in 1904, on a
farm of 80 acres, two miles north of Litchfield, left by will by Miss
Mary Buel at her death in 1900. The original homestead was
destroyed in 1914, but new buildings were given by William Col-
gate and Professor RosweU P. Angier, so that the Republic is
equipped with an administration building, dormitory and gymna-
sium; the old school house is now serving as a dormitory and there
are accommodations for 70 boys. Rev. John Hutchins was largely
instrumental in getting the Republic established.

The object of the Republic is to change the delinquent and way-
ward (but not backward or criminal) boy of today into the self-
supporting and law-abiding citizen of to-morrow; to direct but not
suppress native energy.

Its method is to make each boy a citizen in a miniature
republic, the watchwords of which are "self-government" and
"nothing without labor". There is no adult domination, the boys
truly govern themselves. There is no idleness and no enforced
labor; each boy simply confronts the dilemma of working for his
living or of suffering the penalty of laws enacted by the boys, admin-
istered by boy courts, enforced by boy officers.
Presidents Board of Trustees.
Rev. John Hutchins 1904-1909 Roswell P. Angier* 1915-1918

Charles S. DeForest 1909-1912 Harley F. Roberts 1918-

George Parmly Day 1912-1915 *Became Honorary President in 1918.

APPENDIX 331

William T. Marsh, Vice-Pres. Union & N. Haven Trust Co., Treas.

Ralph D. Cutler, Secretary

Superintendents.

Frederick King 1904-1908 Lester F. Babcock 1917-1919

H. G. LeRoy 1908-1909 John M. Kingman 1919-

S. J. Davis 1909-1917 Tilden Gifford 1919-

THE LITCHFIELD AID

OF THE CONNECTICUT JUNIOR REPUBLIC.

Organized December 30, 1911.

The Litchfield Aid was organized for the pui*pose of raising
funds toward the current expenses of the Republic, and has a
general supervision of the buildings through its House Committee.
The Aid also supplies suitable recreation for the citizens and helps
to keep the trustees in close touch with the needs of the Republic.

Presidents.
Miss Minerva W. Buel 1911-1913 Mrs. A. T. Van Laer 1913-1919

Miss Minerva W. Buel, Vice-Pres.* Mrs. John Dove, Cor. Sec.
Mrs. Seymour Cunningham, Rec-Sec. Miss Harriet C. Abbe, Treasurer
*Acting president.

THE LITCHFIELD EQUAL FRANCHISE LEAGUE.

Organized September 5, 1913.

The Litchfield Equal Franchise League is an Auxiliary of the
Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association, which has for its object
the securing of the ratification of the Susan B. Anthony Amend-
ment and the preparation of Connecticut women for the use of the
vote.

Presidents.
Miss Frances E. Hickox 1913-1914 Miss Adelaide Deming 1914-

Mrs. William T. Marsh, Vice-Pres. Miss Florence E. Ennis, Sec.-Treas.

LITCHFIELD MEMORIAL DAY ASSOCIATION.
Organized 1913.

This association was organized for the purpose of assisting in
the observance and perpetuation of Memorial Day.

Presidents.
Mrs. W. O. Butler 1913-1919 Alain C. White 1919-

Miss Cornelia B. Smith, Vice-Pres. Miss Edith H. Crutch, Treasurer
Mrs. George S. Elmore, Secretary

Z32 APPENDIX

THE LITCHFIELD COUNTY FAKM BUREAU.

Organized February 12, 1915.

The Litchfield County Farm Bureau was organized for the pur-
pose of promoting the development of the most profitable and per-
manent system of agriculture; the most wholesome and satisfactory
living conditions; the highest ideals in home and community life;
and a genuine interest in the farm business and rural life on the
part of the boys and girls and young people.

Presidents,
C. E. Hough, Washington 1915-1916 Richard Dodge, Wash'ton 1917-1918
Robert Scoville, Salisbury 1916-1917 S. McL. Buckingham, W't'n 1918-
S. R. Scoville, Cornwall, ist Vice-Pr. Philip P. Hubbard, Litchfield, Treas.
Mrs. W. Griswold, Goshen, 2d V.-P.

County Agn"icultural Agent.
Allen W. Manchester 1915-1919 Arthur G. Davis IQIQ-

Home Demonstration Agent
Miss Josephine Leverett 1917-1918 Miss Marie Lovsnes 1919-

Miss Emily Bronson 1918-1919 Miss Eleanor S. Moss 1919-

Boys' and Girls' Club Leader.
Harold Brundage 1918- Raymond T. James 1919-

THE SANCTUM.
Incorporated 1906.
A social club with a club house on South Street.

Presidents.
Col. George B. Sanford 1906-1908 Dr. John L. Buel 1908-

Alain C. White, Vice-Pres. Seymour Cunningham, Treasurer

William Trumbull, Secretary

THE LITCHFIELD COUNTRY CLUB.

Incorporated 1916, as the successor of the Litchfield Lawn Club
and the Litchfield Golf Club.

Club house, golf links, tennis courts, etc., at the Catlin Farm.

Presidents.
Alain C. White 1916-1918 F. Kingsbury Bull 1918-

Robert C. Swayze, Vice-Pres. John H. Lancaster, Secretary

Cornelius R. Duflfie, Treasurer

THE CANOE CLUB.

Organized August 20, 1897; as "The Bantam River Club Company".
The Bantam River Club Company was organized with 20 stock-
holders with shares of $25 each. The Canoe Club of Litchfield

APPENDIX 333

was organized on March 13, 1911, with a capital of $2,000, shares

$50 each, and took over the property of the Bantam River Club

Company.

Charles H. Coit, Pres. 1897- Charles T. Payne, Sec. and Treas.

MAKSHEPAUG FOREST CLUB.
Incorporated 1913.

A fishing and shooting club, with clubhouse.

Presidents.
Charles T. Payne 1913-1920 Richard Hunt 1920-

John H. Lancaster, Secretary William M. Foord, Treasurer

THE LITCHFIELD GARDEN CLUB.

Organized September 1913, became member of the Garden Club
of America in 1916.

The Litchfield Garden Club was organized for the purpose of
promoting scientific and artistic methods of gardening. While
this has been the avowed object, the Club has widened its activities
somewhat during the six years of its existence and has undertaken
civic work, such as the improvement and planting of the grounds
around the New Haven station in Litchfield, and in the autumn of
1919 the purchase of the building formerly known as the Lawn Club,
which it proposes to put in good shape, so that in the near future
there may be a comfortable building available for rent at moderate
prices.

Mrs. S. Edson Gage, Pres. 1913- Mrs. John Dove, Cor. Sec

Mrs. Chas. B. Curtis, ist Vice-Pres. Miss Alice Kingsbury, Treas.
Mrs. Henry S. Munroe, Sec

THE NEEDLE AND BOBBIN CLUB OF LITCHFIELD.

Organized 1919.

This society is the first Auxiliary of the Needle and Bobbin
Club of New York and its purposes include: to bring together those
who are interested in lace, embroidery, weaving and allied sub-
jects; to make collections of hand-made fabrics and exhibit them
in the rooms of the Litchfield Historical Society; and to contribute
toward the education of, and give awards to, workers in these
fabrics.

Mrs. John A. Vanderpoel, Hon- Pres; Miss Kate I. Thomas, Secretary
Miss Mary P. Quincy, President Mrs. Floyd L. Vanderpoel, Treas.

Mrs. Charles B. Curtis, ist V.-Pres.

LITCHFIELD BASEBALL CLUB.
Organized 1919.

Arthur Staples. Manager 1919-

334 APPENDIX

LITCHFIELD FIRE COMPANY.

Organized October 27, 1890.

The Litchfield Fire Company is a voluntary organization, and is
equipped with a La France Chemical and Hose Auto Truck, pre-
sented to the Company in 1916 by Mrs. W. H. K. Godfrey and Miss
Ella Coa In 1892, the Company moved into the present Fire Depart-
ment Building, built by J. Deming Perkins, the use of which was
given by him to the Fire Company. This building was purchased
from the estate of Mr. Perkins on August 1, 1911, by the Borough
of Litchfield.

Foremen.
Samuel J. Cone 1890-1894 Edward Crutch 1903-1905

Alexander B. Shumway 1894-1895 George A. Smith 1905-1907

George C. Woodruff 1895-1896 George R. Crutch 1907-1908

W. Beach Morse 1896-1897 Louis J. Goodman 1908-1909

W. Burton Allen 1897-1899 Robert K. Biglow 1909-1912

Charles W. Biglow 1899-1901 Thomas F. Ryan 1912-1917

George E. Mason 1901-1903 William L. Herbert 1917-

Chiefs.
Eugene L. Phelps 1891-1896 George C. Woodruff 1902-1907

J. Deming Perkins 1896-1898 W. Beach Morse 1907-

W. Beach Morse 1898-1902

A. J. Hausmann. Secretary James E. Conroy, Treasurer

BANTAM FIRE DEPARTMENT.

Organized February 1916.

Robert Currie, Chief 1916- C. Hotchkiss, Secretary

C. Deno, Assistant Chief R. Brown, Treasurer

THE LITCHFIELD CEMETERY COMPANY.

Incorporated February 6, 1866, in charge of East Cemetery.

Presidents.
Origen S. Seymour 1866-1883 Henry W. Buel 1887-1893

George C. Woodruff 1883-1885 Edgar B. VanWinkle 1893-1920

Alain C. White 1920-

James P. Woodruff. Treasurer Seymour Cunningham, Secretary

WEST CEMETERY IMPROVEMENT COMPANY.

Incorporated 1901.

The Company was organized for the purpose of caring for and
maintaining the West Cemetery.

Francis M. Coe, Pres. 1901-

Lewis Marsh, Secretary F. U. Newcomb, Treasurer

^ #-^1^-^

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APPENDIX

335

BOROUGH OF LITCHFIELD.

Incorporated 1818, as a village, at the Maj session of the
Legislature, in which act the limits of the village were defined,
officers to be a president, treasurer and clerk. In 1885, at the
January session of the Legislature, all the electors dwelling within
the limits of the village were declared to be a body politic and
corjwrate by the name of the Borough of Litchfield, the officers to
be a warden, burgesses, etc.

Presidents.

Frederick Wolcott

1818-1820

Frederick D. Beeman

1857-1858

Uriel Holmes

I 820- I 824

John H. Hubbard

1858-1859

William Duel

1824-1838

Edward W. Seymour

1859-1860

Phineas Miner

1838-1839

Henry W, Buel

1860-1862

Joseph Adams

1839-1842

Seth P. Beers

1862-1863

Josiah G. Beckwith

1842-1853

George C. Woodruff

1863-1879

Garwood Sanford

1853-1854

J. Deming Perkins

1879-1880

Henry B. Graves

1854-1856

George A. Hickox

1880- I 882

P. K. Kilbourne

1856-1857

Frederick Deming

1882-1884

Wardens.

H. E. Gates

1887-1888

Charles H. Coit

1898-1899

William L. Ransom

1888-1889

William T. Marsh

1899-1900

Seth Pratt

1889-1890

John T. Hubbard

1900-1901

William T. Marsh

1890-1892

Aaron Crutch

1901-1907

Charles B. Bishop

I 892- I 893

P. M. Skelly

1907-1908

Henry W. Wessells

1893-1894

Aaron Crutch

1908-1911

Eugene L. Phelps

1894-1895

W. Burton Allen

1911-1919

James P. Woodruff

1895-1898

George C. Ives

1920-

Burgesses.

Charles N. Warner

Charles W. Biglow

Martin J. Moraghan

Edward M. Sepples

L3rman J. Booth

William S. Plumb

Assessors

Louis J. Goodman

Richard V. Tobin

Matthew E. Brennan

W. Jerome Bissell, Treasurer

Charles H. Coit, Auditor

Travis A. Ganung, Clerk

BOROUGH OF BANTAM.

Incorporated .

April 16, 1915.

Wardens.

Eli D. Weeks

1915-1918

John Hard

1918-

John Coe, ist Burgess

R. L. Rochfort. 2nd Burgess

A. C. Morey, 3rd Burgess

R. J. Landon

F. M. Seelye, Treasurer

Frank Seward, 4th Burgess
George Burgoyne, 5th Burgess
Clifford Hotchkiss, 6th Burgess
Assessors.

W. L. Ravenscroft
Robert Currie, Auditor

George Morey, Clerk

33<> APPENDIX

BOARD OF TRADE, BANTAM.

Organized December 5, 1911.

Presidents.
C. F. Flynn 1911-1912 Floyd Vanderpoel 1913-1914

W. S. Rogers 1912-1913 Milo D. Bartholomew 1914-1916

C B. Heath 1916-

Hertnan Foster, Secretary F. M. Seeyle, Treasurer

LITCHFIELD AUXILIARY OF THE NEW HAVEN

BRANCH, WOMEN'S BOARD OF MISSIONS OF BOSTON.

Congregational Church.

Organized 1870.

The purpose of the Auxiliary is to cooperate with the Women's
Board of Missions in the support of missionaries and mission sta-
tions on the foreign field.

Presidents.
Mrs. Allan McLean 1875-1881 Mrs. John Hutchins 1895-1913

Mrs. Charles Symington 1883-1893 Mrs. John L. Buel 1913-1915

Mrs. Frank J. Goodwin 191 5-
Mrs. Henrietta Bissell, Secretary Mrs. George S. Elmore, Treasurer

DAISY CHAIN, CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

Organized July 1875.

The purpose of the Daisy Chain is to interest children in mis-
sionary work and lead them to do what thej^ can to help the children
of less favored lands.

Presidents.
Miss Josephine E. Richards 1875-1912 Miss Mary A. Hutchins 1912-
Miss Eleanor Hexamer, Secretary Miss Elizabeth Potter, Treasurer

YOUNG LADIES' MISSION BAND, CONG'ATIONAL CHURCH.
Organized November 15, 1884.
The object of this organization is as follows: To promote the
Kingdom of Christ in the general Avork of Foreign Missions and so
fulfill His parting command. All money raised by the Society is
sent to the Women's Board of Missions to assist in its work of
sending the Gospel to the more remote parts of the earth.

Presidents.
Miss Emma L. Adams 1884-1896 Miss Corneha B. Smith 1912-

Mrs. George C. Woodruff 1896-1912
Miss Mildred Rylander. Secretary Miss Clara B. Kenney, Treasurer

APPENDIX 337

YOUNG PEOPLE'S SOCIETY OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR.

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

Oganized 1890.

The object of this society is to serve as a training school for the
church. It is a member of the Winsted Union, and contributes to
Home and Foreign Missions.

Eleanor Hexamer, Pres. 1920- Cornelia B, Smith, Sec. and Treas.

Mildred Rylander, Vice-Pres.

THE CRADLE ROLL, CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

Organized 1897.

This organization takes the children of the church up to the
time they are six years old. No meetings are held except once a
year in connection with the Daisy Chain, when they have a Cradle
Roll Tea. A suitable tea is served, with a birthday cake with as
many candles as there are members. Through an Endowment Fund
established by Mrs. Shepherd Knapp, the children support a little
African boy.

Leaders.
Mrs. John Hutchins 1897-1915 Mrs. Albert E. Childs 1919-

Mrs. William O. Butler 1915-1919

THE WOMEN'S GUILD, CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

Organized January 1903.

The Women's Guild was organizwl for the purpose of helping
to carry on the work of the church in Avho'ever way seemed best.

Presidents.
Miss Martha Peck 1903-1906 Mrs. William T. Marsh 1911-1912

Mrs. Frederick W. Peck 1906-1908 Mrs. Robert A. Marcy 1912-1913
Mrs. George E. Mason 1908-1911 Mrs. William J. Dykes 1913-

Miss Cornelia B. Smith, Vice-Pres. Mrs. George E. Mason, Sec.-Treas.

WOMEN'S HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

Date of organization unknown.

The early records of this Society have either been lost, or as
seems more likely, no official records were kept. It is certain,
however, that the Home Missionary work has been carried on by
the women since early in the history- of the church. The work of
the Society has been preparing and sending boxes of clothing and
household articles to home missionaries in the field. Later the

338 APPENDIX

Society became affiliated with the Connecticut Women's Congrega-
tional Union, and the work included the raising of money for the
work of this organization.

Presidents.
Mrs. Henry R. Coit Mrs. John Hutchins 1910-1915

Mrs. George M. Woodruff Mrs. George C. Woodruff 1915-

Mrs. Frederick Deming, Vice-Pres. Mrs. W. B. Allen, Treasurer
Miss Cornelia B. Smith, Secretary

LADIES' AID SOCIETY,

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHUECH.

Organized September 29, 1869.

Originally called the Sewing Society. Later became the Ladies'

Aid Society, with the object of helping the church financially and

socially. No record of officers available, prior to 1900.

Presidents.
Mrs. George Wallace Newcomb Mrs. Aaron Crutch 1914-1915

Mrs. Horace Cowles 1900-1911 Mrs. F. U. Newcomb 1915-1917

Mrs. Seth Osborne 191 1- Mrs. Charles Shumway 1917-1919

Mrs. Marvin S. Todd 1912-1913 Mrs. Milo D. Beach 1919-

Mrs. Harry T. Lynch, Secretary Mrs. William B. Pruner, Treasurer

EPWOKTH LEAGUE, CHAPTEK 10376
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Organized June 8, 1893.
This society was organized as a Christian P^ndeavor Society
originally.

The purpose of the Epworth League essentially is for the disci-
pline of the youth of the church in Christian life and experience,
and training for Christian service.
Joseph D. Coffill, President 1920- Miss Emma Drumm, Sec. and Treas.

JUNIOR EPWORTH LEAGUE, CHAPTER 4679

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Organized :NLay 20, 1896.

Mrs. Milo D. Beach, Supt. 1920-

Elizabeth Pruner, Pres. Marjorie Fenn, Secy.

Bradford Smith, Treas.

THE OXFORD CLASS, METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

An organized adult Bible Class. The Purpose: The mutual
improvement of its members through Bible study and social culture,
and the advancement of the church.

Leonard A. Dickinson. President Mrs. Gladys S. Ganung, Treasurer

Joseph Coffill. Vice-President Miss Kittie Fenn, Teacher

Miss Emma Drumm, Secretary

APPENDIX 339

ST. MICHAEL'S GUILD, ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH.
Organized 1903.

For financial aid of parish, especially the maintenance of the
Rectory; feature, an annual sale in Aug:ust.

Presidents.
Mrs. C. W. Hinsdale 1903-1920 Mrs. Charles N. Warner, 1920-

Mrs. A. P. Lewis, Hon. Pres. Mrs. Seymour Cunningham, Treas.

Mrs. M. G. Wright, Secretary

YOUNG WOMEN'S GUILD, ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH.

Organized 1920.
For the aid of the Rector and missionary work.

Mrs. A. Cahill, Pres. 1920- Mrs. R. Dunscomb Sanford, Sec.

WOMEN'S AUXILIARY TO THE BOARD OF MISSIONS

ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH.

Date of organization unknowTi.

For the aid of general and special missionary work of the
church at large.
Mrs. W. J. Brewster, Ch. 1917- Mrs. W. H. Sanford. Sec. and Treas.

THE LADIES' SOCIETY OF UNITED WORKERS
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. BANTAM.
Organized June 13, 1895.
The object of this society is to help the church financially and
socially.

Presidents.

Mrs.

John Bishop

1895-

Mrs.

Arthur Morey

1908-

Mrs.

George demons

1896-1897

Mrs.

Henry Wheeler

1909-

Mrs.

John Coe

1898- 1900

Mrs.

Fred Landon

1910-1912

Mrs.

George demons

1901-1904

Mrs.

John Coe

1913-1916

Mrs.

Fred Landon

1905-

Mrs.

Harley Scott

1917-

Mrs.

George Peck

1906-1907

Mrs.

George Peck

1918-

Mrs. Augustus Smith, Vice-Pres. Mrs. F. O. Landon. Sec. and Treas.

EPW^ORTH LEAGUE
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, BANTAM

Organized January 31, 1897,

Presidents.
Samuel Glover 1897-1898 Jennie Coe 1898-

340

APPENDIX

John Sparklin

1898-1899

James Monroe

1906-1908

George Peck

1899-

S. May Barber

1908-1909

Jennie Coe

1899-1900

Herman Foster

1909-1910

George Clemons

1900-1901

Samuel Glover

1910-1911

Samuel Glover

1901-1902

Herman Foster

1911-1912

S. May Barber

1902-1904

Robert Elliott

1912-

Jeanie Strathie

1904-1906

Herman Foster

1912-1913

James

Monroe

1913-

Gladys Mattson,

Vice-Pres

Hazel Morey, Treasurer

Harriet Peck, Secretary

WOMEN'S GUILD, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, BANTAM.

Organized 1896.

The Women's Guild succeeded the Women's Sewing; Society,
which had been in existence for many years. The object of the
Guild is to promote the welfare of St. Paul's Church and to do
such charitable and missionary work as shall be determined by the
members.

Presitients.
1896-1897 Mrs. Edward Robinson 1908-1909

Mrs. George B. Morey

Mrs. William A. Buell 1897-1902

Mrs. Hiram Stone 1902-1904

Mrs. John H. Jackson 1904-1905

Mrs. John O. Ferris 1905-1906

Mrs. William A. Buell 1906-1908
Mrs. Filmore Brown, Vice-Pres.

Mrs. George B. Morey 1909-1911
Mrs. James L. Doyle 1911-1915

Mrs. William A. Buell 1915-1916

Mrs. Thaddeus W. Harris 1916-1919
Mrs. Wm. L. Ravenscroft 1919-
Mrs. Cornelius R. Duffie, Sec.-Treas.

ALTAR GUILD, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, BANTAM.

Organized 1910.

The Altar Guild has the sacristy work of the church in charge.
Mrs. H. Macintyre, Pres. 1910- Miss Edith Moore, Treasurer

WOMEN'S AUXILIARY, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, BANTAM.

Organized January' 1920.

This society is a branch of the Women's Auxiliary of the Dio-
cese of Connecticut, and is organized for missionary work.
Mrs. J. C. Calloway, Pres. 1920- Mrs. C. B. Heath. Sec. and Treas.

Mrs. George B. Morey, Vice- Pres.

BOY'S CLUB, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, BANTA3L

Organized 1920.

The purpose of this club is to interest the boys of the Parish in
the higher life of the community and to provide athletic and social
entertainment for them.

Hugh Trumbull, Pres. 1920- Jack Ravenscroft, Secretary

William Ravenscroft, Vice-Pres. William Doyle, Treasurer

Fl.iiVD L. WvXDERPnF.r.. PkE?., TKr.\fBUI-I.-VA.N"IiERP(.Kr, G

Wii.i.iAM T. Marsh, President. Litchfield \\'ater O

APPENDIX 341

THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF LITCHFIELD

Organized September 1814, as the "Phoenix Branch Bank",
reorganized December 22, 1864, as "The First National Bank of
Litchfield".

The Bank has a capital of $100,000, deposits exceed $400,000,
surplus $30,000.

The Phoenix Branch Bank.

Presidents.

Col. Benjamin Tallmadge 1815-1826 Asa Bacon 1833-1846

Judge James Gould 1826-1833 Theron Beach 1846-1852

George C. Woodruff 1852-1864

The First National Bank.

Presidents.
Edwin McNeill 1864-1875 George E. Jones 1893-1896

Henry R. Coit 1875-1887 Judge Charles B. Andrews 1896-1899

Henry W. Buel 1887-1893 George M. Woodruff 1899-

Charles H. Coit. Vice-president Philip P. Hubbard, Cashier

Directors.
Weston G. Granniss Lester R. Denegar

Frank H. Turkington William T. Marsh

James P. Woodruff

THE LITCHFIELD SAVINGS SOCIETY.
Incorporated May 1850.

The Litchfield Savings Society is without Capital Stock; has
deposits of $2,000,000; surplus $200,000; number of depositors 3,600.

Presidents.
George C. Woodruff 1850-1885 George M. Woodruff 1885-

James P. Woodruff, Vice-president Charles H. Coit. Sec. & Treas.

Directors.
Almon E. Fuller John T. Hubbard

William T. Marsh Charles N. Warner

W. J. Bissell

THE LITCHFIELD WATER COMPANY.

Organized 1889.

The Litchfield W^ater Company began its work by building a
reservoir in the town of Goshen, on Fox brook, which could not
properly be called a brook, as it practically dried up soon after a
rainfall.

Water was introduced into the town in 1891, and people realized
that they could now enjoy the luxury of a public water supply,

342 APPENDIX

which had always been considered out of the question for Litch-
field. It only required however, the experience of a few years to
show that the supply was inadequate, and could not be depended
upon.

In 1896, under the direction of Prof. Munroe, a pumping plant
was installed in the valley below the reservoir, which was con-
nected with several driven Avells, sunk to a depth of about 90 feet,
and these wells have provided an unfailing supply of pure water
ever since, so that however dry the season or how near a water
famine many of the surrounding towns were, Litchfield people, other
than the stockholders, had no cause for worry.

Soon after the completion of the reservoir, the Company acquired
practically all of the water-shed contributory, about 500 acres, and
have allowed it to return to wild land, and what was at the time
fine farm land, is now covered with quite a growth of young hard-
wood trees, well fenced to keep out cattle.

In 1914 a filter was installed to take out some sediment which
washes into a reservoir in time of heavy rains, and while not
entirely preventing trouble arising from that cause, it has been of
very great help in keeping the water clear.

Presidents.
F. H. Wiggin 1889-1892 F. H. Wiggin 1894-1897

George M. Woodruff 1892-1894 William T. Marsh 1897-

James P. Woodruff, Vice-Pres. Charles H. Coit, Secretary

William T. Marsh, Treasurer

THE LITCHFIELD ELECTKIC LIGHT & POWER COMPANY.

Incorporated 1897

In March 1901, the Comj)any purchased at Bantam all the land
of the Litchfield Land Improvement Co., north of the railroad track
and all its water rights to the stream. They also purchased
from Buel and Coit the old grist mill, formerly run by Samuel
Bennett. This privilege was originally granted by vote of the
town in 1804, "being rights of the Shepaug stream", which at that
time was the name applied to the stream from the outlet of Bantam
Lake, These privileges gave the Company controlling rights to
water privileges, aggregating a head of 65 feet.

Some time during 1901, the power was generated at Bantam and
took the place of the small plant in Grannis and Elmore's basement.

The present power house was built in July 1901. The business
started with a capital of $10,000 and an income of about $75 per
month. The Company, at present has a capital of $100,000, surplus
of $25,000, a debt of $65,000, and property of something over $200,000.
The annual business amounts to about $50,000.

Presidents.
George S. Elmore 1898-1900 John L. Buel 1909-1916

Charles H. Coit 1901-1909 Walter Camp Jr. 1916-

APPENDIX 343

Weston G. Granniss, Vice-Pres. Charles H. Coit, Treasurer

Philip P. Hubbard, Secretary Ellsworth F. Miner, Superintendent

BAXTAM BALL BEARING COMPANY.
Organized February, 1905, as the "Bantam Anti Friction Co."
Manufacturers of ball and roller bearings. Annual output
$750,000. Employs 130 hands. Plans are being matured for a
large increase in the plant.

W. S. Rogers, Ch. Bd. of Directors Helen Schoonmaker, Treasurer
Nellie M. Scott, President C. B. Heath, Secretary

H. H. Edwards, Vice-Pres.

BANTAM BALL BEARING ilUTUAL BENEFIT ASSOCIATION.
The Bantam Ball Bearing Association is an association created
for the benefit of the employees of the Bantam Ball Bearing Company.
Assessments are made and benefits are paid to members of good
standing on account of sickness creating inability to work.
Eugene Converse. Pres. 1919- George Molitor, Sec. and Treas.

THE CONNECTICUT ELECTRIC ilANUFACTURING CO.
Bantam Branch organized 1919.

Product, metal and fibre flashlights. Approximate production
per year .$700,000. Employs 74 hands.

A. H. Trumbull, President H. M. Doyle, Secretary

F. S. Trumbull, Vice-President H. D. Hazen, Manager

THE TRUMBULL YANDERPOEL ELECTRIC MFG. CO.

BANTAM.
Organized 1912.
Manufacturers of safety switches, knife switches, switch boards,
panel boards, weatherproof sockets and switches. Employs approxi-
mately 100 hands. Capital $92,200, output about $350,000 per year.

Presidents.
Charles F. Flynn 1912-1914 Floyd L. Vanderpoel 1914-

Ralph K. Mason. V-Pres., Gen. Mgr. Harold C. Richardson, Sec.-Treas

LITCHFIELD LAND COMPANY.
Incorporated 1915.
The purpose of the Litchfield Land Company is to purchase, sell
and otherwise deal in improved and unimproved real estate.
Henry R. Towncs Pres. 191 5- John H. Lancaster, Sec. and Treas.

WARREN LAND COMPANY.
Incorporated 1913.
The purpose of the Warren Land Company is to purchase, hold
and deal in forest lands and abandoned farms.
Charles T. Payne, Pres. 1913- John H. Lancaster, Sec. and Treas.

344

APPENDIX

G. HOUSES and STORES IN THE BOROUGH OF LITCHFIELD.

In 1849, George C. Woodruff prepared, chiefly from information
given by Dr. Abel Catlin, a List of most of the dwellings then
standing in the village of Litchfield. This was enlarged by Seth
P. Beers, by the addition of stores, offices, public buUdings and some
other dwellings, and was printed in 1862 with the Charter and By-
laws of Litchfield. In 1919 the list was again added to and brought
up to date by Miss Anna W. Richards ; while the final revision, here
printed including the houses on several streets not in the previous
lists, has been made by Miss Ethel M. Smith.

NORTH STREET
East side beginning at corner
of East Street.

I— NAME: Roberts House
BUILT: 1792-3— Charles Butler
OWNED : 1920— Miss Edith Kings-
bury

2 — Ladies School
1854-5 — Sylvester Spencer
1920 — Lyman J. Booth

3 — Lucretia Deming House
1793 — Julius Deming
1920— Misses A. E. & E. D. Kings-
bury

4 — Bronson House
i867(?)— Edwin McNeill
1920 — J. H. Bronson

5 — Bacon House
i77o(about) — Reuben Smith
1920 — Charles H. Coit

6 — Warner House
1867— Prof. W. G. Peck
192a— Mrs. Charles N. Warner

7 — Wadsworth-Kilbourn House
1811 (about)— Col. Tallmadge store

removed
1920 — Julius Adenaw

8 — McLaughlin House
1830— Charles S. Webb
1920 — Mrs. E. T. McLaughlin

9 — Andrew Adams House
1765 — Michael Dickinson
1020 — Alice T. Bulkeley

10 — Riley House
1828 — Leonard Goodwin
1920 — Miss Alice T. Buckeley

II— Charles Perkins House
1833 — Julius Deming
1920 — Mrs. William W. Rockhill

12 — Judge Church House
1831— Rev. L. P. Hickok
1920 — Mabel Bishop

13 — Trowbridge House
1876 — Thomas Trowbridge
1920 — Mrs. Blanche Bucklin

14 — Lord House
1785 — Oliver Boardman
1920 — Amy R. Thurston

15 — Charles Deming House
1900 — Charles Deming
1920 — Mrs. Charles Deming

16 — Colgate House

1880 — James A. Robinson
1920 — William Colgate

17 — Van Winkle House
1900— M. D. & E. S. Van Winkle
1920 — Mary D. Van Winkle

18— Dr. Buel House
1895 — ^John L. Buel
1920 — John L. Buel, M. D.

19 — Spring Hill Sanitarium
1858-9— Dr. H. W. Buel
IQ20— John L. Buel, M. D.

APPENDIX

345

NORTH STREET
West side beginning at comer
of West Street.

20 — County Jail

1811 — Litchfield County
1920 — Litchfield County

21 — Drug Store

1784-5 — Samuel Sheldon. Torn

down : Litchfield Savings Society,

same site, 1914.
1920 — Litchfield Savings Society

22 — Banking House
181 5 — Phoenix Bank
1920 — First Nat'l Bank

23 — ^Wessells House

1765 — Laurence Wessells. Torn
down. New House, 1877 Dr. Wil-
liam Deming.

1920 — Mrs. William Dem.ing

24 — Samuel Buel House

1821 (about) — Samuel Buel, M. D.

Torn down. New House, 1892.

Dr. Charles Belden.
1920 — Mrs. W. H. K. Godfrey

25 — A. Norton House

i762(about) — Jas. Kilborn. Torn
down.

26 — Tallmadge House
1775 — Thomas Sheldon
1920 — Mrs. E. N. Vanderpoel

27 — Beeman House

1849-50 — Mrs. Brisbane

1920 — Mrs. E. N. Vanderpoel

28 — Judge Gould House
1760 — Col. Elisha Sheldon
1920 — J. P. Elton

29 — Abel Catlin House
1800 — John Allen
1920 — Frederick Deming

30 — Uriel Holmes House

1755 (about) — Mark Prindle. Burn-
ed about 1840.

31 — Chase House
1910 — H. S. Chase
1920 — Estate of H. S. Chase

32 — Theron Beach House
1783— Daniel Sheldon, M. D.
1920 — Est. E. B. VanWinkle

33 — Pierce House
1803 — Miss Pierce. Torn down.

34 — Underwood House
189s — F. L. Underwood
1920 — F. L. Underwood

35 — Miss Pierce's Academy
1827 — Academy Association
1920 — H. P. Jones. Removed.

36 — Pierce-Brace House
i75o(about) — Zebulon Bissell. Torn
down.

37 — Congregational Parsonage

1863 — Congregational Society, same

site as preceding.
1920 — Congregational Society

38 — William Deming House
1771-2 — Lynde Lord, Sr.
1920 — Mrs. Harrison Sanford

39 — Beecher House

1774 — Elijah Wads worth. Remov-
ed, part to Spring Hill.

40 — Old Academy, Henry Jones
1827 — Academy Association. Re-
moved. Enlarged by H. R.
Jones, 1878.
1920 — Henry R. Jones

41 — Fanning House

1830-1 — Erastus A. Lord. Removed.

42 — Bissell House

1888— F. A. P. Barnard
1920 — Mrs. L. P. Bissell

43 — Carrington House

1781 — Eli Smith. Torn down.

44 — Stephen Deming House
1778-9 — Alexander Catlin
1920— M. W. & K. L. Buel

346

APPENDIX

TALLMADGE AVENUE
North Side.

45 — Bostwick House

i90o(about) — Mrs. Williams
1920 — Arthur Bostwick

46 — Greycot

1899— M. W. & K. L. Buel
1920— M. W. & K. L. Buel

TALLMADGE AVENUE
South Side.

47 — Bullard Cottage
1910 — Elizabeth Bullard
1920 — Mrs. John L. Buel

PROSPECT STBEET
North Side,

48 — A. W. Richards House
1842 — Daniel Baldwin
1920 — A. W. Richards

49 — George Richards House

1832-3 — Removed from South St.,

by Daniel Baldwin.
1920 — George Richards

50 — Col. Tallmadge Farm House
1790 — (after) — Col. Benj. Tall-
madge. Later used as part of
boys' school kept by Mssrs. Berry
and Eastman.
1920 — Mrs. FitzGerald

PROSPECT STREET

South Side.

51 — Miss Quincy House
1904 — Mary P. Quincy
1920 — Mary P. Quincy

52 — Shepherd Knapp House
1894 — Shepherd Knapp
1920 — George A. Vondermuhl

53 — Congregational Parsonage
1786 — Reuben Webster
1920 — Est. of Archibald MacMartin

54 — George Matthews House
1822-3 — Sylvester Spencer
1920 — Mrs. W. J. FitzGerald

55 — FitzGerald House
1867— W. J. FitzGerald
1920 — Mrs. W. J. FitzGerald

56 — Wheeler House
1880— J. W. Wheeler
1920 — E. M. Wheeler

57 — Wheeler Cottage
1906 — E. M. Wheeler
1920 — E. M. Wheeler

SOUTH STREET
West side beginning at corner
of West Street.

58— Judd Block

1888— Jesse L. Judd
1920 — Mrs. Ward

59 — Beckwith Block

1897 — Mrs. J. G. Beckwith
1920 — Mrs. J. G. Beckwith

60 — Beckwith House

1819-20 — Moses Seymour Jr.
1920 — Mrs. J. G. Beckwith

61 — Origen S. Seymour House
1807-8 — Ozias Seymour
1920 — Morris W. Seymour

62 — Major Seymour House

1735 — E. Marsh Sr., or Thomas
Grant. Torn down. 1855, new
house on same site by George
C. Woodruff.

1920 — George M. Woodruff

63 — George C. Woodruff House
1829-30 — Elihu Harrison. Enlarged

by George C. Woodruff, i860;

James P. Woodruff, 1916.
1920 — James P. Woodruff

64 — Samuel Seymour House
1784-5 — Samuel Seymour
1920 — Episcopal Rectory

65 — Judge Reeve House
1774 — Judge Reeve
1920 — Lewis B. Woodruff

66 — Morris Woodruff House
1833-4 — Lyman J. Smith
1920 — John T. Hubbard

APPENDIX

347

67— "Parson" Jones Place
1800— Rev. Dan Huntington. Burn-
ed in 1863, rebuilt by the Misses
Scott, enlarged by Chief Justice
Andrews.
1920 — Mrs. Grace M. Granniss

68 — Henry Bissell House

1847— Henry Bissell. Enlarged by
G. H. Hollister and John Lindley.
1920 — John Lindley

69 — Starr Cottage
1885— A. E. Fuller
1920 — Miss Kate I. Thomas

69 — Starr Cottage

1850-1 — William F. Baldwin. Made
from 2nd St. Michael's Church.
1920 — Miss F. E. Frost

70 — Oliver Wolcott Jr., House
1799 — Elijah Wadsworth. Enlarg-
ed, 1817, by O. Wolcott Jr., and
later by George B. Sanford.
1920 — Mrs. Harry G. Day

71 — Wallbridge House
1858— Wolcott Institute
1920 — ^W. Beach Day

^2 — Henry R. Towne House
1915 — Henry R. Towne
1920 — Henry R. Towne

SOUTH STKEET

East side beginning at comer
of East Street and continuing to
South Bridge.

TZ — Oliver Goodwin House

1 759-60 (about) — Ebenezer Marsh,
Jr. Torn down, 1899.

74 — Library Building

1901 — John A. Vanderpoel
1920 — Wolcott-Litchfield Circulat-
ing Library

75 — Historical Society Wing
1906 — E. N. Vanderpoel
1920 — Historical Society

76— Law School

1 784 (about) — Judge Reeve
Removed to West St., in 1846, and

in 191 1 to present site.
1920 — Historical Society

y- — Webb House

1819— Charles L. Webb
1920 — Ruth E. McNeil

78 — Telephone office and Woodruff
Offices
1846 — Origen S. Seymour
1920 — George M. Woodruff

79 — St. Michael's Church

1809-12. 1851-2 On site of that of

1812. Moved south for erection

of stone church, 1919.
1920 — Episcopal Society

Note : The lot on which St. Michael's
Church stood was given by Sam-
uel Marsh, Esq., in 1808. The
first church building was one
mile west of the village, erected
in 1749. The second church build-
ing on South Street, 1809-12, as
listed. The third church building
on same site, 1851 (as listed).

The fourth church building, of stone,
on same site and started in 1919
(as listed). The lot was added to
by gifts and purchase east and
south.

80 — Bronson House

1785-6 — James Stone. Torn down,
1 9 19.

81 — Bronson Store

1819-20 — Phineas Miner's law of-
fice, enlarged by Silas N. Bron-
son, 1850.

1920 — "The Sanctum"

82 — Abraham C. Smith House
1780 — Benjamin Hanks
1920 — Esther T. Champlin

83 — Huntington's Office

1831 (about) — Jabez W. Huntington
1920 — Roman Catholic Parsonage

348

APPENDIX

84 — Roman Catholic Church

1864 — First R. C. Church; moved
back in lot for building of new
church in 1885-6, later torn down.

85 — St. Anthony's Church

1887-8 — Roman Catholic Church
1920 — Roman Catholic Church

S6^Edward W. Sejonour House
1864 — Edward W. Seymour
1920 — Origen Sesrmour

Edward W. Seymour 2nd

87 — Morse House

1832 (about) — Alanson Abbe, M. D.
1920 — Mrs. William H. Sanford

88 — Fenn-Fuller House

1867— Wm. C. Buel and Frank F.

Cook. M. D.
1920— W. S. Fenn & A. E. Fuller

89 — Wolcott House

i753-4(about) — Oliver Wolcott Sr.

Enlarged by Fred'k Wolcott.
1920 — Alice Wolcott

90 — Belden House

1773-4 — Capt. Phineas Bradley, fin-
ished by Ephraim Kirby and re-
built by B. S. Clark.

1920 — Mrs. H. B. Mendenhall

91 — Morse House
1874 — Holmes Morse
1920 — Betsy F. Morse

92 — Wiggin House
1871 — Mrs. Wiggin
1920 — Mrs. A. M. Wiggin

93 — Hamlin House

1858-9 — Henry B. Graves
1920 — E. B. Hamlin

94 — Cunningham House

1904 — Seymour Cunningham
1920 — Seymour Cunningham

95 — Ozias Lewis House
1806 — Ozias Lewis
1920 — Mrs. Antoinette Cahill

96 — Cahill House

1890 — Mrs. Antoinette Cahill
1920 — Mrs. Antoinette Cahill

97 — Parmalee House

1 886 (after) — Caroline Parmalee
1920 — Seymour Cunningham

98 — Drury House
1888— James Drury
1920 — James Drury

99 — Coe House

i892(about) — Sarah Coe
1920 — Mrs. John Moran

100 — Bissell House

1830 — George H. Palmer
1920 — W. G. Rosbach

lOi — George W. Thompson House
1844-5 — George Thompson
1920 — Miss Esther H. Thompson

102 — The Misses Thompson House
1868 — George Thompson
1920 — Miss Esther H. Thompson

103 — Stevens House

1822 — John Baldwin 2nd
1920 — Robert Stevens Jr.

104 — Sedgwick House
1825— A. P. Roberts
1920 — Ralph P. Smith

105 — Stevens House
1887 — Robert Stevens
1920 — Joseph Bellerino

106 — Erickson House
1889 — James Erickson
1920 — George Suhaj

107 — Morris House

1829 — S. Sheldon. Right wing
drawn from south and finished
by Mrs. Wood.
1920 — Augustus Rolli

108 — Palmer House

1800 (about) — Asa Sanford. En-
larged by Samuel Sheldon.
1920 — Est. Reynolds Crandall

APPENDIX

349

SOUTH STREET
West side from fork to South
Bridge.

109 — Gleason House

i8oi-2( about)— Deacon O. Lewis

1920— Mrs. D. G. Ambler
no — Hempsted House

1827-8— Hiram B. Woodcock

1920 — Richard Liggett

III — Homer House

1803-4 (about)— Henry Blinn, fin-
ished by Augustine Buell, torn
down and rebuilt by Thomas J.

Harris, 1892.
1920 — Thomas J. Harris
112 — Harrigan House

1893-4 (about) — John Harrigan
1920 — Mrs. John Harrigan
113 — Burns House

1914 — Barn remodeled and drawn

from High Street.
1920 — Daniel Burns

114 — Fisher House

1825-6 — A. P. Roberts, for shop.
1920 — George Beers

115 — Samuel Buell House
i825(about) — Samuel Buell
1920 — John Scanlon

WOLCOTT AA'ENUE

116 — Trumbull House

1896 — William Trumbull
1920 — William Trumbull

117 — MacLaren House

1894 — William MacLaren
1920 — W. S. Walcott

118 — Hatheway House

1899 — Curtis R. Hatheway
1920 — Curtis R. Hatheway

OLD ROAD or HIGH STREET

East Side.
119 — Heffernen House

1822-23 (about) — Horace Gregory.
Drawn there, torn down and
rebuilt by John Shanks
1920 — John Shanks

120 — Burns House

1879 — John Burns

1920 — John Burns
121 — Peck House

1894 — Edwin B. Peck

1920— George Beers
122 — Peck House

1894 — Edwin B. Peck

1920 — Thomas Beers

123 — Doyle House

1888 — ^James Richardson
1920 — Lawrence Doyle

124 — Moran House
1894— Edwin B. Peck
1920 — Daniel Moran

125 — Kennedy House

1879 — Michael Kennedy
1920 — Daniel Kennedy

126 — Delafontaine House

1889 — Charles Delafontaine
1920 — Otto Munn

127 — Burns House
1913 — Daniel Burns
1920 — Daniel Burns

128 — Phelps House

1794 — Abner Baldwin
1920 — Mrs. Aylmer

129 — Fitzpatrick House
1873 — David DeForest
1920 — Mrs. Bridget Fitzpatrick

130 — Ryan House
1909 — John Ryan
1920 — John Ryan

131 — Powers House
1 761 — William Marsh
1920 — Mrs. Katherine King

HIGH STREET

West Side.
132 — Prescott House

1850 — ^William H. Thompson
1920 — Mrs. Symington

133 — Prescott House

1889 — George Prescott

1920 — Mrs. William Brennan

350

APPENDIX

134 — Country Club

1853 — George Prescott"

1920 — White Memorial Foundat'n

WEST STREET
South side beginning at busi-
ness blocks, at comer of South
Street.

135 — Phelps Block

1888— Eugene L. Phelps
1920 — Eugene L. Phelps

136 — Bishop Block

1888— Bishop & Sedgwick
1920 — Est. Charles Bishop

137— Pratt Block

1886— Seth Pratt & Thompson
1920 — George H. Hunt

138— Court House & Town Hall
1797-8 — County and Town. Burn-
ed in 1886, rebuilt in 1888, in
wood, by town. Burned same
year and rebuilt in 1889 by town,
in stone.
1920 — County and Town

139 — Sedgwick Block

1889-90 — Theodore Sedgwick and

James T. Sedgwick, M. D.
1920 — J. T. Sedgwick, M. D.

140 — Meafoy's Block

i89o(about) — Eugene Meafoy
1920 — M. J. Moraghan

141 — Sanford Block

1890-1 ( about) ^—Fred'k Sanford
1920 — M. V. Moraghan

142 — Mrs. Sedgwick Block

1890-1 — Mrs. Lizzie Sedgwick
1920 — Mrs. T. P. Conroy

143 — Beach Block
1890 — Dr. Beach
1920 — Mrs. T. P. Conroy

144 — Granniss & Elmore Block
1888 — Granniss & Elmore
1920 — W. G. Granniss & Mrs. Nel-
lie Elmore

145 — Marcy Block
1887 — John Marcy
1920 — Robert A. Marcy, M. D.

146 — Ives Block

1905 — George C. Ives
1920 — George Theophilos

147— T. F. Ryan office

1898— Frederick Sanford, remodel-
ed in 1912 by T. F. Ryan.
1920 — Thomas F. Ryan

148 — Buell House

1848 — ^William Lord. Finished by

Charles Buell in 1855.
1920 — Thomas F. Ryan

149 — Ganung House
1798 — Joseph Adams
1920 — Mrs. C. M. Ganung

150 — Methodist Church
1885 — Methodist Society
1920 — Methodist Society

151 — Page House

1799 — Arad Way, and enlarged by

Cheney.
1920 — George H. Hunt

152 — Julia Deming House
1872 — Julius Deming
1920 — Julia A. Deming

153 — Baldwin House

1887 — Mrs. Charles Baldwin
1920 — Mrs. Charles Baldwin

154 — Mrs. Emma Pratt House
1887— Seth Pratt
1920 — Mrs. Emma Pratt

155 — Mrs. Margaret Pratt House
1822-3 — A. Benedict
1920 — Mrs. Margaret Pratt

156 — Berkshire Hotel

1874 — Thomas Richards. Torn
down, 1919.

157 — Berry House
■ 1806-7 (about) — Stephen Parmen-
ter
1920 — Miles Cummings and Mrs.
Juckett

APPENDIX

351

158 — Beach House

1875 (about) — Samuel Beach
1920 — Edward Weir

159 — Denegar House
1893 — L. R. Denegar
1920 — Edward M. Sepples

160 — Burns House

1875 (about) — Samuel Beach
1920 — William Burns

161 — Perkins House

1877 — Edson L. Perkins
1920 — Mrs. M. S. Todd and Harry
F. Lynch

162 — Associated Farmers Building
1881 (about) — William Johnson,
remodeled by Jos. Slack, 1887.
1920 — Est. of Joseph Slack

EUSSELL STREET

163 — Slack House
1887— Joseph Slack
1920 — Est. of Joseph Slack

164— Slack House
1887 — Joseph Slack
1920 — Est. of Joseph Slack

165 — Slack House
1887 — Joseph Slack
1920 — Est. of Joseph Slack

WEST STREET

Xorth side beginning at North
Street corner.

166 — Fire Department

1891 — J. Deming Perkins
1920 — Borough

167 — Fanny Morse House
1780— Eli Smith
1920 — Miss Clara Kenney

168 — Methodist Parsonage
1884-5 — Methodist Society
1920 — Methodist Society

169 — Marsh House

1820 — Horace Gregory and A.

Wadsworth
1920 — William T. Marsh

170 — Trowbridge House

i840(about) — Henry Trowbridge
1920 — Edward Trowbridge

171 — Playhouse
1893 — Casino
1920 — Litchfield Garden Club

172 — Judd House

1786 — Amos Galpin

1920 — Mrs. A. T. VanLaer

173 — Elmore House

1901 — George S. Elmore

1020 — Mrs. George S. Elmore

174 — Allen House
1883 — Mrs. Barnes
1920— W. B. Allen

175 — Goodman House
1841 — William Rogers
1920 — Louis J. Goodman

176 — Williams House
1782 — Abel Darling
1920 — Martin J. Moraghan

177 — Sepples House

Part of Robert Williams house.
Drawn there from the east.
Later remodeled.
1920 — William Sepples

178 — Beach House

1822-3 — Sylvester Spencer
1920 — Mrs. Margaret Pratt

179 — Parmalee House
1823 — Lynde Parmalee
1920 — Mrs. John Sepples

180 — Saltonstall House
1842 — Garwood San ford
1920 — Mrs. Harriet F. Biglow

181 — Herbert House

1883-4 — William Herbert. Moved

to present site and remodeled

in 1914.
1920 — Mrs. William Herbert

182 — Coe House

1905-6 — Stanley L. Coe
1920 — Stanley L. Coe

352

APPENDIX

183 — Donohue House
1870 — Thomas Donohue
1920 — Thomas Donohue

184 — Mrs. Donohue House

1883 — Mrs. Thomas Donohue
1920 — William Bergin

185 — Crutch House

i884(about)— Malachi Tracy
1920 — George R. Crutch

186 — Barce House

1814-15 (about) — Simeon Taylor
1920 — Mrs. Cora Beebe

187 — Rogers House
1912 — P. J. Rogers
1920 — Patrick J. Rogers

188 — Rogers House
191 1 — P. J. Rogers
1920— Patrick J. Rogers

SPENCER STREET
West Side.

189 — Beach Shop

1832-3— T. L. Saltonstall. Re-
moved north on Spencer St.,
and remodeled.

1920 — Mrs. Mark Polka

190 — Bray House

( ?) — Mrs. Michael Bray
1920 — Mrs. William Tucker

191 — Radich House

1919 — The present house was

drawn there and remodeled.
1920 — John Radich

192 — Stone House

i828-9(about) — Sylvester Spencer
1920 — Timothy Higgins

193 — Turkington House

i828-9(about) — Sylvester Spencet
1920 — William E. Turkington

194 — Merriman House

i828(about) — Sylvester Spencer
1920 — Hugh Higgins

SPENCER STREET
East Side.
195 — Da Ross House
1916-7 — John Da Ross
1920 — John Da Ross

196 — Jonathan E. Fuller House
i852-3(about) — William Rogers
1920 — Antonio Da Ross

197 — Vanderpoel House

191 1 — Piano shed drawn from
Daniels property and remodeled.
1920 — Mrs. E. N. Vanderpoel

198 — Vanderpoel House

1917 — Mrs. E. N. Vanderpoel
1920 — Mrs. E. N. Vanderpoel

199 — Brown House

i8i9(about) — Col. B. Tallmadge
1920 — Joseph Mayer

EAST STREET

Beginning at corner of North
Street.

200 — Luke Lewis House
1782 — John Collins
1920 — Phelps House Corporation

201 — Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe

1781 — Dr. Reuben Smith. Moved

from North St., by Luke Lewis.

1920 — Phelps House Corporation

202 — Phelps Tavern
1787— David Buell
1920 — E. L. Phelps

203 — Wing of Beers House
1802 — Roger Skinner office
1920— Mrs. W. W. & W. J. Bissell

204 — S. P. Beers House
1787 — Timothy Skinner
1920— Mrs. W. W. & W. J. Bissell

205 — Congregational Church

1828 — Congregational Society.

New church built, 1873.
1920 — Congregational Society.

206 — First Conference Room

i83o(about) — Congregational So-
ciety. Removed.

APPENDIX

353

207 — Reuben Merriman House

1807— R. Webster and Reuben
Merriman. Removed, 19 17.

208 — Webster House

1784 — Frisbie. Enlarged, 1816 by

R. Webster and by Aaron

Crutch in 1914.
1920 — Aaron Crutch

209 — Perkins House

1786 — Litchfield County. Torn
down. Center School built in
1886-88.
1920 — Town

210 — Sedgwick House

1895— J. T. Sedgwick, M. D.
1920 — J. T. Sedgwick, M. D.

211 — Sedgwick House

1 884 ( about )—Theo. Sedgwick
1920 — ^J. T. Sedgwick, M. D.

212 — Karl House

191 1 — Adolph C. Karl
1920 — Adolph C. Karl

213 — Taylor House
1875— Devoe & Hill
1920 — Patrick C. Burke

214 — Karl Brothers House
1875-6— Devoe &; Hill
1920 — Karl Brothers

215 — Bergin House

1879 — William Bergin

1920 — Vendelin Macejka >

216 — Devoe & Hill House
1875-6— Devoe & Hill
1920 — John Broderick

217 — Devoe & Hill House
1875-6— Devoe & Hill
1920 — Mrs. John Finan

218 — Noonan House

1882 — Theodore Sedgwick
1920 — Mark Burns

219 — Moraghan House
1877-8— Joseph Slack
1920 — Bernard Moraghan

220 — Finan House
1884— Joseph Slack
1920 — James Finan

221— Fitzpatrick House
1885— Joseph Slack
1920— Mrs. K. Fitzpatrick

222 — Lyons House
1883— Joseph Slack
1920— Jacob Hexamer

223— Perry House

1810— S. P. Beers. Removed by
D. Baldwin, Sept 1829. Part
used when rebuilt by Bartley
Lavin.

1920— Mrs. Bartley Lavin

EAST STREET
South side beginning at corner
of South Street.

225 — Hickox House

1810— Augustus & Betsy Collins
1920— Frances E. Hickox

226 — Wheeler House

1879— Wolcott Wheeler
1920— F. North Clark

227 — A. S. Lewis House
1814— Charles G. Bennett
1920 — Est. Cornelia B. Hinsdale

228 — Bissell House
181 7— John Bissell
1920 — Mary D. Colvocoresses

229 — Buckley House

1850— William Wheeler
1920 — Mrs. Thomas Buckley

230 — Meagher House

1896 — Timothy Meagher
1920 — Timothy Meagher

231 — Cahill House

1906 — Thomas Cahill
1920 — James Casey

232 — Smith House

1894 (about)— Michael Grady
1920 — Stephen Smith

354

APPENDIX

233 — Kelley House

1899 — Aaron Crutch Jr.
1920 — John Kelley

234 — Curtis House

1901 — C. Leslie Curtis
1920 — C. Leslie Curtis

235 — Kelley House
1869 — Leonard Stone
1920 — Mrs. Bridget Kelley

236 — Kinney House
1872 — John Kinney
1920 — Mrs. John Kinney

237 — Lavin House

1871 — Bartley Lavin
1920 — John Gallagher

238 — Birmingham House

1869 — Patrick Birmingham
1920 — Mario Simoncelli

239 — Lavin House
1871 — John Lavin
1920 — Eugene L. Phelps

240 — Eugene L. Phelps House
1878 — Eugene L. Phelps
1920 — Eugene L. Phelps

241 — John Phelps 2nd House

1834 — Albert Homer. Removed

and enlarged by S. P. Beers.
1920 — Eugene L. Phelps

242 — Slack House
1876 — Joseph Slack
1920 — Est. Joseph Slack

243 — Slack House

1812 — Joseph Slack

1920 — Aaron Crutch
244 — Wells House

1830 — Tomlinson Wells

1920 — Est. Frank Wells

MEADOW STREET
East side beginning at comer
of West Street.

245— Masonic Hall

1836 — Methodist Society

1920 — St. Paul's Lodge, No. ir

246 — Ganung House
1850 — William Lord
1920 — John Bernard Olsson

247 — Jennee House

1830-1 (about) — George BoUes
1920 — Frank B. Mason

248 — Buell House

1 828-9 (about) — Curtis Woodruff
1920 — Eugene Meramble

249 — Meafoy House

i823-4(about) — Lemuel O. Mea-
foy
1920 — Matthew Brennan

250 — Kilbourne House

i824(about) — George Bolles
1920 — Morris W. Seymour

251 — David C. Bulkley House
1825 — (about) — George Dewey
1920 — Edward Buckley

252 — Edward Buckley House
1902 — Edward Buckley
1920 — Edward Buckley

253 — Parmelee House
1832-3 — Henry Adams
1920 — Mrs. Nellie R. Elmore

254 — Leonard House

1 890 (about) — Edwin B. Peck
1920 — Walter Cahill

255 — Henry Kilbourn House

1830-1 (about) — Samuel Waldon

drew it there ; finished by Dr.

A. Abbe.
1920 — George M. Woodruff

256 — Harris House

1879 — Barn drawn there by Mrs.

E. Rogers.
1920 — Mrs. W. H. Harris

257 — Grossman House
1835 — Ransom Potter
1920 — Martin Rogers

238 — Rogers House
1894 — John Rogers
1920 — Mrs. John Rogers

APPENDIX

355

259 — Munger House

1831-2 — Truman Munger
1920— William Erwin

260 — Cunningham House

191 1— Seymour Cunningham.

MacLaren barn drawn there

and remodeled.
1920 — Seymour Cunningham

261 — Peacocke House

1893— Mrs. John Peacocke
1920 — Mrs. E. F. Miner

MEADOW STREET
West side beginning at corner
of W^est Street.

262 — Mason House

1803 — Cato Freeman. Removed
from Prospect St. to Meadow
St. in 1873 and improved.
1920 — Travis A. Ganung

263 — Public School

1858-9— First School District re-
moved from West to Meadow
Street in 1873 and remodeled
for tenement house.
1920 — Wolf Schuster

264 — Newcomb House
1881 — Cornelius Allen
1920 — F. U. Newcomb

265 — Hadsell House

1881 (about)— Mrs. Hadsell
1920 — George C. Ives

266 — Treadway House
1885 — Julius Treadway
1920 — Mrs. J. J. Treadway

267 — Fuller House
1875— A. E. Fuller
1920 — Eugene Banker

268 — Trowbridge House

1879 — George H. Trowbridge
1920 — William S. Plumb

269 — Buckley House
1882— D. C. Bulkley
1920 — George H. Deacon

270 — Buckley House
1884— D. C. Bulkley
1920— Robert A. Marcy, M. D.

271 — Rogers House

1897— Patrick J. Rogers
1920 — Mrs. John Rogers

272 — Prescott House

1848 — Reynolds C. Crandall
1920 — Harry B. Morse

273 — Gibbard House
1850 — Leonard Stone
1920 — Mrs. William Cone

274 — Stone House

1855 — Leonard Stone
1920— Wilbur B. Morse

275 — Stone House

1868— Leonard Stone

1920 — Mrs. Leonard Stone

276 — Rev. Hiram Stone House
1903 — Rev. Hiram Stone
1920 — Mrs. Isabel Titus

277 — Stone House

1880— Leonard Stone
1920 — Mrs. Leonard Stone

278 — Stone House

1864 — Leonard Stone
1920 — Mrs. Leonard Stone

279 — Stone House

1876 — Leonard Stone
1920 — Mrs. Leonard Stone

280 — Hoffman House
1874 — Hoffman
1920 — Armando Versari

281 — Grosjean House
1874— Peck
1920 — Mrs. Alexander Grosjean

282 — Lancaster House

1915 — John H. Lancaster
1920 — John H. Lancaster

283 — Barrett House

1886— Patrick Barrett
1920 — Patrick Barrett

3S6

APPENDIX

284 — Rogers House

1881— Mrs. Ellen Rogers
1920 — Mrs. Finan

285 — Molloy House
1874 — John Molloy
1920 — Mrs. Swanson

286 — Ryan House

1871 (about) — Charles Cotton
1920 — Litchfield Land Co.

TORRINGTON ROAD
West Side.

287 — Colonial Hall

1828 — 1st Congregational Church.
Moved to present site when new
church was built.
1920 — George Barber

288 — Baldwin House

1821-2 — Daniel Baldwin
1920 — George Barber

289 — 'Taylor House

1784 — Daniel Starr. Removed from

East Street.
1920 — Mrs. George Hawley

290 — Cone House
1884 — Samuel Cone
1920 — Mrs. Amelia Ensign

291 — Monroe House

1895 (about) — This house drawn
to present site by Prof. Monroe.
Formerly Mrs. Gleason's house.
1920 — Prof. Henry S. Munroe

292 — Bulkeley Bungalow

i9ii-2(about) — Miss A. Bulkeley
1920 — Miss Alice Bulkeley

293 — Perkins House

No record of the building of this
house. Probably by J. Deming
Perkins.
1920 — Lawrence Carbury

294 — Quigley House
1848— G. F. Davis
1920 — Miss M. VanWinkle

TORRINGTON ROAD

East Side.

295 — Brennan House

1916 — Mrs. Michael Brennan
1920 — L. R. Denegar

296 — Merriman House

1807 — R. Webster and Reuben
Merriman, 1839. Moved to

present site and improved, 1917.

1920 — Matthew Brennan

297 — Hausmann House

1916-7 — Albert Hausmann
1920 — Albert Hausmann

298 — Sedgwick House

i884(about) — Theodore Sedgwick
1920 — J. T. Sedgwick, M. D.

299 — Cahill House

1881-2— Mrs. Eliza Cahill
1920 — Frank Fabbri

300 — Seth P. Beers House

1825 — Seth P. Beers. Drawn to

present site in 1869.
1920 — Mrs. James Madden

301 — Doyle House

1913 — Nicholas Doyle
1920 — Nicholas Doyle

302 — Watts House

1847 — James Trowbridge
1920 — Mrs. Patrick Lavin

WOODRUFF STREET

303 — Bray House

1853 (after) — Michael Bray. Re-
moved to present site, 1914.
1920 — Litchfield Land Co.

304 — Crover House

1853 (after) — Mrs. Bernasconi
1920 — Litchfield Land Co.

305 — Downey House

1853 (after) — Henry Friday
1920 — Litchfield Land Co.

APPENDIX 357

306 — Harrigan House 308 — Dwyer House

1797— James F. Wolcotfs office 1853 (after)— John Dwyer

on South St. removed to pres- 1920— Litchfield Land Co.

ent site, 1914. .^ _.

i92(^Litchfield Land Co. Note: These houses were all remov-

ed from the lower section of

307 — Higgins House Meadow Street. The lower

1879 — George Prescott Meadow highway was opened

1920 — Litchfield Land Co. February 7th, 1853.

358 APPENDIX

H. PATENT OF THE TOWN OF LITCHFIELD.

"The Governor and Company of the English Colony of Connecti-
cut in New England, to all to whom these Present shall come, Greet-
ing:

KNOW YE, THAT the said Governor and Company, by virtue of the
power granted unto them by our late sovereign, King Charles the Second,
of blessed memory, in and by His Majesty's Patent, under the great seal of
England, dated the twenty-third day of April, in the fourteenth year of His
Majesty's reign, and in pursuance thereof and in General Court assembled,
according to charter, did, by their act, made May fourteenth. Anno Domini,
1719, upon the humble petition of Lieut. John Marsh, of Hartford, within
the said Colony, and Dea. John Buell, of Lebanon, grant unto the said John
Marsh and John Buell, and partners, settlers, being in the whole fifty-seven
in number, liberty to settle a town westward of Farmington, in the county
of Hartford, at a place called Bantam, which town was to be in length east and
west, eight miles, three quarters, and twenty-eight rods, and in breadth, seven
miles and an half — to be bounded east on Mattatuck river, west part on
Shipaug river and part on the wilderness, north by the wilderness and south
by Waterbury bounds and a west line from Waterbury corner to the said
Shipaug river. And Ordered, that the said town should be called by the
name of Litchfield, as more fully appears by the said act. The said
Governor and Company, by virtue of the aforesaid power, and by their
special act bearing even date with these presents, for divers good causes
and considerations them hereunto moving, have given, granted and by these
presents, for themselves, their heirs and successors, do fully, clearly and
absolutely give, grant, ratify and confirm, unto the said John Marsh and John
Buell, and the rest of the said partners, settlers of said tract of land (in
their actual full and peaceable possession and seizin being) and to their
heirs and assigns, and such as shall legally succeed and represent them,
forever, (in such proportions as they, the said partners and settlers, or any
of them, respectively, have right in and are lawfully possessed of the same,)
all the said tract of land now called and known by the name of Litchfield,
in the county of Hartford aforesaid, be the same more or less, butted and
bounded as followeth, viz : Beginning at the north east corner, at a tree
with stones about it. standing in the crotch of Mattatuck river aforesaid,
and running southerly by the side of said river until it meets with Waterbury
bounds, where is a well known white oak tree standing about fifteen rods
west of said Mattatuck river, anciently marked with IS : IN : From thence
running west twenty three degrees thirty minutes south, to two white oak
trees growing out of one root, with stones about them, and west one mile
and a half to Waterbury north west corner bound mark ; and from thence
west five degrees thirty minutes north to Shipaug river, where is a tree and
stones about it butting upon Waterbury township ; then beginning at the
first mentioned tree by Mattatuck river and running westward into the
wilderness, to an oak tree marked and stones laid around it ; then south to a
crotch in the Shipaug river ; and thence by the westermost branch of the

APPENDIX 359

Shipaug river to Woodbury bounds. And also all and singular, the lands, trees,
woods, underwoods, woodgrounds, uplands, arable lands, meadows, moors,
marshes, pastures, pondss waters, rivers, brooks, fishings, fowlings, huntings,
mines, minerals, quarries, and precious stones, upon and within the said land.
And all other rights^ members, hereditaments, easements and commodities
whatsoever^ to the same belonging or in any wise appertaining, so butted
and bounded as is herein before particularly expressed or mentioned, and
the reversion or reversions, remainder or remainders, rights, royalties,
privileges, powers and jurisdictions whatsoever, of and in all and singular the
said tract of land and premises hereby granted, and of and in any and
every part and parcel thereof. And the rents, services and profits to the
same incident, belonging or appertaining — To Have and To Hold all the
said tract of land, and all and singular other the premises hereby given
or granted, or mentioned, or intended to be granted, with all the priviledges
and appurtenances thereof, unto the said John Marsh and John Buell, and
the rest of the partners, settlers of the same, their heirs and assigns, to
their only proper use, benefit and behoof, forever ; and to and for no other
use, intent or purpose whatsoever. And the said Governor and Company,
for themselves and their successors, have given and granted, and by these
presents do give and grant, unto the said John Marsh and John Buell, and
the rest of the partners, settlers of the tract of land herein before granted,
their heirs and assigns, that the said tract of land so butted and bounded as
aforesaid, shall from time to time and at all times forever hereafter, be
deemed, reputed, denominated, and be an entire town of itself and shall
be called and known by the name of LITCHFIELD, in the county of
Hartford, and that the aforesaid partners, settlers and inhabitants thereof,
shall and lawfully may from time to time and at all times, forever hereafter
have, use, exercise and enjoy all such rights, powers, priviledges, immunities
and franchises, in and among themselves, as are given, granted, allowed,
used, exercised and enjoyed, to, by, and amongst the proper inhabitants
of other towns in this Colony, according to common approved custom and
observance ; and that the said tract of land and premises hereby granted
as aforesaid, and appurtenances, shall remain, continue and be unto the
said John Marsh and John Buell, and the rest of the partners, settlers, their
heirs and assigns, in proportion aforesaid forever, a good, peaceable, pure,
perfect, absolute and indefeasible estate of inheritance in fee simple, to
be holden of His Majesty, his heirs and successors, as of His Majesty's
Manor of East Greenwich in the county of Kent, in the Kingdom of England,
in free and common soccage, and not in capite, nor by Knight's service —
Yielding therefor, and paying unto our Sovereign Lord, King George, his
heirs and successors forever, one fifth part of all ore of gold and silver
which, from time to time and at all times forever hereafter, shall be there
gotten, had or obtained, in Hew of all services, duties and demands what-
soever.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, The said Governor and Company have
caused the Seal of the said Colony to be hereunto affixed.

Dated at Hartford, May the igth day, Anno regni regis Decimo Georgii

36o APPENDIX

Mag'ae Britt'ae, Fran'ae, Hybern'ae, Annoque Domini, One Thousand
Seven Hundred and Tiventy-Four, 1724.

G. SALTONSTALL, Governor.

By order of the Governor and

Company in General Court

assembled. (Seal.)

Hez. Wyllis, Secretary."

FINIS.

INDEX

To Alain C. White's History of Litchfield,

Compiled by

ARTHUR E. BOSTWICK, Ph. D.

«3°Names in the lists given in the Appendix (pages 281-357)
are not separately indexed here.
«^Errata will be found on the last page.

Abbe, Dr. Alanson, sanitarium, 153.
Abbe. Harriet C, organizes Red

Cross sessions, 246.
Absentee settlers, legislation against,

Acadians, first Catholics in Litch-
field, 200.

Adams, Andrew, defend? boundary
claim, 45; Justice of the peace,
78; appointed to arrest sus-
pects (1776), 81; elected deputy,
82; Revolutionary lawyer, 100.

Adams, Charles, succeeds his broth-
er Henry as editor of The
Enquirer, 139.

Adams, Corp. Charles, Jr., Killed
at Cold Harbor, 224.

Adams, Henry, publishes The
County Post, 139; changes name
to The Enquirer, 139.

Adams, Henry, (Mass.) quoted, 107.

Adams, John Quincy, reports plans
of disunion in New England,
107.

Addis, Thomas, clothier, 133.

"Aerial Phaeton," erected in 1827,

Africa, Cash, negro, contracts with

CoL Tallmadge, 152.
Africa, Jeph., negro servant of

Judah Champion, 152.
Agard, Kezekiah, contributes gun,

74-
Agard, Rev. Horace, Methodist

minister, 200.
"Age of Homespun," Centennial

Sermon by Bushnell, 50.
Agricultural Society, 264.
Alarm of 1777, 83, 84.
Albany, N. Y., appeal for aid from,

86; Daily Stage line to, 95.
Alcohol, Oliver Wolcott's advice to

his son about, 156.
Allen, Du Val, wounded in Harjes

ambulance service, 258.
Allen, Ethan, native of Litchfield,

71.
Allen, John, eminent lawyer, sketch
of, 159; member of Congress,
100; his reason for taking a
Democratic paper, 165; signs
pledge (1789), 158.
Allen, Nathaniel, on 1720 map, i;
in Beebe's company, 74; dies in
Sugar House prison, 77.
Altar Guild, St. Paul's Church, 340.
Alvord, Mrs. Henry C, contributor

for Morris, ix.
Ambulance drivers in French ser-
vice, 258.
American Eagle (1822; removed to
New Haven 1826) newspaper,
138.
American Legion, 323; portrait
group of, 261.

American Minine Co.. 215.

American Union Co., acquires
Humiston's telegraph patents,
188.

Ammunition stored at Litchfield in
Revolution, 86.

AmphiboUte gneiss, rock of which
Mount Tom is made, 4.

Amusements, Chapter on, 121.

Andre, John, captured by CoL
, Tallmadge, 89.

Andrews, Gov. Charles B.. advocates
married women's rights, 106.

Andrews, John, finds lead, 8.

Andros, Sir Edmund, arrival of, 7-

Angier, Roswell P., a donor of
Conn. Jr. Republic buildings, 273.

Animals of Litchfield, 172.

Appendix, 277; contents of, 279.

Architecture in Litchfield, 240.

Area of township, i.

Armistice celebrations (1918), 259-

Armory Hall, formerly Con-
gregational Church, 195; used as
a rink, 268.

Arnold, Benedict, his Quebec expe-
dition, 71.

Arrowheads, Indian relics, 17.

Artesian water in faulted rock, 5.

Asbury, Bishop (Methodists

preaches in St. Michael's, 199.

Ashley, Timothy, editor of The

Witness, 138, 164- . _ .^ , ^ , ,

Assembly, grants rights in Litchtielrt,

24. ,-,

Association agreement of Con-
tinental Congress adopted by
town, 70.

Atwater, Hist, of Plymouth, quoted,
107.

Aurora, county Democratic paper,
165.

Austin, Enos, dies in Sugar House
prison, 77. t • 1.

Automobile, influence of, on Litch-
field customs, 242.

Averill, J. K., publishes Thi
Republican, 139.

Awowas, Indian grantor, g.

Bacon, Asa, lawyer, 214.
Bacon, Caleb, tatmer, 131.
Bakewell, Prof. Chas. M., speaks a1

War Bureau rally (1918), 251.
Baldwin, Ensign Abner, in French

war, 48.
Baldwin, Rev. Ashbel, quartermaster

at Litchfield, 79; rector of St.

Michael's (1785). 198.
Baldwin, Isaac, pre- Revolutionary

Sawyer, 100; captain in French

war, 48; first county clerk, 46,

149.

INDEX

Baldwin, George H., publishes The

Sentinel (i866-'67), i39-
Baldwin, John M., publishes The

Sun, 138.
Baldwin, Katharine, librarian, 271.

Baldwin, Gov. Simeon, on the Litch-
field Law School, 102.
Baldwin, William F., on committee
to buy volunteer's supplies, 218.

Balls, in 1789, 121.

Bank of North America, Oliver
Wolcott, Jr., first pres. of, 146.
Phoenix branch, 165; First
National, 166; lists of oiHcerst
(1920), 341.

Bantam, American Legion in, 261,
323; armistice celebration in,
260; as a factory centre, 269;
Board of Trade, 336; Borough
officers, 33s; carousal at store
in, 160; Baptist Church in,
200; Baptist clergymen in, 296;
Episcopal Church, 198; Episco-
pal Church Societies, 340;
Episcopal clergymen in, 294;
Fire Department, 334; Indian
name, 2, ii; industries of, 129,
342; Library Club, 328; Metho-
dist Church Societies, 339;
Methodist clergymen in. 296;
postmasters of, 309; rally for
Third Liberty Loan, 249; sketch
of, 190.

Bantam Ball Bearing Co., 192, 343.

Bantam Lake, i, 273; boats on,
127; ilhis., 5.

Bantam, Ohio, named from Bantam,
Conn., 191.

Bantam River, use granted, 44.

Bantam River Club Co., 332.

Bantam shad (pickerel), 177.

Baptist church, 200; in Bantam, 103;
list of clergymen, 296.

Barber, Francis, plants elms, 170.

Barber's "Historical Collections,"
1836, illus. from, 25.

Barnes, John S., pres. Northfield
Knife Co., 188.

Barney, Newcomb C, stables de-
scribed, 266.

Barnuni, P. T., mines for copper in
The Pitch, 214.

Barrett, Frank, an organizer of
Litchfield Rifles, 247.

Baseball in Litchfield, 267, 333.

Bass in Bantam Lake, 177.

Bates, Ephraim, joins British, 84.

Batterson, James G., pupil of
CatUn's Northfield school, 187;
marble worker, 133; pres. in-
surance CO., 133.

Batterson, Simeon S.. marble-yard
proprietor, 133.

Beach, Bamias, dies on way home
from Sugar House prison, 76.

Beach, David, advertises for stray
cattle, 174.

Beach, James, dies in Military ser-
vice (1776). 75-

Beach, John, of Woodbury, joins
British, 84.

Beach, Col. Miles, jeweler, 129.

Beach, Milo, camp near his house,
170.

Beach, Noah, survivor of Sugar
House prison, 77.

Beach, Theron, marries Lucy

Sheldon, 120.
Bears in Litchfield (i76o-'7o), 175,

176.
Becket Gneiss, rock north and

west of Litchfield, 2, 3.
Beckwith, Gail, in war with Spain,

273- . .

Beckwith, Dr. J. G., exammmg
Physician of draft (1863), 218.

Beckwith, Nathaniel Brown, School-
master, 144.

Bedient, Zalmon, barber, 128.

Beebe, Capt. Bezaleel, returns from
Colonial wars, 65; sent to de-
fend N. Y., 73; roster of his
company, 74; captured at Fort
Washington, Nov. 16, 1776, 76;
visits his men in British
prisons, 77; stiH in captivity
(April 1777), 83; recruiting
officer (as major) of 6th. Bri-
gade at Litchfield (Sept. 1777).

87-

Beebe, Philip Schuyler, on com-
mittee to buy volunteers' supplies
(1861), 218.

Beecher. Catherine E., quoted. 34;
writes of her father's tree-
planting sermon, 168; ancedote of
Judge Reeve, 109; on Pierce school
theatricals, 123.

Beecher, Rev. Henry Ward, in boy-
hood, 34; quoted, 38; praises
Litchfield trees, 172; account of
Col. Tallmadge quoted, 135.

Beecher, Rev. Dr. Lyman, Auto-
biography, viii; notice of, 33;
portrait, 33; anecdotes of, 36; his
church, 28; on school committee,
97; appears on stage by accident,
123; praise of Litchfield women,
148; his crusade against drink,
156; temperance attitude, 160;
approves disestablishment, 167;
inspires tree-planting, 168;

preaches Judge Reeve's funeral
sermon, 102.

Beecher, Mrs. Lyman, on Gov.
Wolcott, 147.

Beecher, elms, illus., 170.

Beecher House, 35; removed to
Spring Hill, 112.

Beechers, . graduates of Morris
Academy, 181.

Beers, Prof. Henry A., 213.

Beers, Julia, Catholic convert, 201.

Beers, Seth Preston, at Litchfield
Law School, 107; on Litchfield
longevity, 120; first pres. county
historical society, 213; sketch of,
213.

Bellamy, Rev. Dr. Joseph, quoted,

"Bench and Bar of Litchfield," viii.
Benedict, Daniel, survivor of Sugar

House prison, 77.
Bennett, Samuel, grist mill, 342.
Bennett, William, drowned in Great

Pond, 126.
Benton, Amos, Sr., sees bear, 176.
Benton, Amos. C, unearths Indian

implements, 17.
Benton, Horatio, residence. South

Farms, illus., 179.
Berkshire Ice Co., Bantam Lake,

192.

INDEX

Berkshire schist, rock north of

Prospect Mt., 4.
Bethlehem, comprised in Indian

"Bantam", 11.
Betts, Henry E- B., associate edi-
tor The Enquirer, 139.
Bi-Centennial celebration (1920), vii.
Biglow, Chas., burgess, 260.
"Billy Bobtail," newspaper nickname

for Col. Tallmadge, 164.
Bird, John, of South Farms, adver-
tises runaway slave, 152.
Bird, Jos., on 1720 map, ii; first
collector, 38; builds "mount", 20.
Bird, Dr. Seth, on committee to ex-
amine surgeons (1776), 81.
Birge, J., on 1720 map, i.
Bishop, Chas. B., as horseman, 267.
Bishop, Mabel, aid acknowledged,

ix.
Bissell. Benjamin, in Beebe's com-
pany, 74.
Bissell, EHas, wheel-factory on

Harris Plain, 132.
Bissell, Mrs. L. P., aid ac-
knowledged, ix; collects money by
"crucible," 252.
Bissell, Capt. William, 189; Com-
mands Litchfield company (iS&zt,
220.
Bissell, Zebulon, in Beebe's com-
pany, 74; dies on way home from
North Church prison, 77; had
built "red-house" used as first
Pierce school building, 112.
Bissell House (formerly Welch

TSouse), 189; illus., 185.
Blakesley, Tilley, Lieut, in Bradley's

company, 78.
Blizzard of 1888. 206; of 1779, 207.
Blockade of Boston deplored in

town -meeting, 70.
Board of Trade, Bantam, 336.
Boardman, David S., sketch of John

Allen, 159.
Boars, regulated by vote (1791), 173.
BoUes, George, tavern keeper, 96.
Bonus voted to Litchfield soldiers
(1777). 81; for volunteers, (1861),
218.
Borough of Litchfield, list of build-
ings in, 344.
Borough officers, 335.
Borough of Bantam, 192.
Borough Hall, Bantam, 192.
Boston, Lyman Beecher's pastorate

in, 33; resolution in aid of, 70.
Bostwick, Arthur Elmore, aid ac-
knowledged, ix; Chapter by, 230.
Bostwick, Dr. David E., Circulat-
ing Library organized in his
house, 326; house (ilhis.,) 48.
Bostwick, Mrs. David E., Anecdote

of, 230.
Bostwick, Elmore Mc. N., in Harjes

ambulance service, 259.
Boswell, Rev. Geo. C, "Book of

Days," viii; quoted, 199.
Boulders deposited, 5.
Boundaries of town specified in

Indian deed, 12.
Bounties offered for wolves and

snakes, 175.
Bounties for Civil-war volunteers,

218; raised to $200 each, 219.
Bowling alleys, 126, 127.

Boy Scouts of America, 323; in Wel-
come Home procession ( 1919), 261.

Boy's Club, St. Paul's Church, 340.

Brace, John Pierce, 34; associate in
Pierce school, 113.

Brace, Rev. Jonathan, preaches
Wolcott funeral sermon, 204.

Bradley, Capt. Abraham, appraiser,
74; commands company, 78.

Bradley, Almon B., killed at Cold
Harbor, 224.

Bradley's Tavern, Bantam, party at
(1816), 118; carousals at (1826),
160.

Bradleyville, name for western Ban-
tam, 190; schoolhouse there now a
henhouse, 193.

Brahen, Mae, yeowoman, 259.

Braman and Kilbourne, fulling mill,

132-
Brand for horses (figure 9), 15-
Branding of domestic animals, 174.
Bray, Michael, killed at Cold Har-
bor, 224.
Brennan, Clare, yeowoman, 259.
Brenon, Mr. and Mrs., John, slack

wire performance, (1789), 124.
Bretton, Prof. W. E., Tree Notes,

169.
Brewster Rev. Wm. J., aid ac-
knowledged, ix; conducts Near
East Drive, 252; invites armistice
celebrators into church, 259.
Brick yard in Litchfield, 134.
Bridewell prison, 77.
British army, regarded as ineffi-
cient, 69.
British settlers in Litchfield after

the Revolution, 90.
Brooke, Lord, 7.
Brooker, Andrew J., killed at Cold

Harbor, 224.
Brown, John, "of Ossawatomie,"
graduate of Morris Academy,
181 ; sketch of, 183.
Brown, Nathaniel, joiner, 130.
Brown, Salmon, brother of John,

183.
Brown, Stephen, in Beebe's com-
pany, 74.
Brownell, Bishop T. C, consecrates

Northfield Church, 186.
Brownson, EHsha, died on way home

from Suerar House prison, 77.
Brun, Mdlle., French teacher, 237.
Brush Hill, wolf-pit near, 176.
Buck, Ezekiel, early settler, 15.
Buck, E., on 1720 map, i.
Buck, J., on 1720 map, i.
Buckingham, Gov. Wm. A., raises

seven regiments, 1861, 218.
Buell, David, builds Phelps Tavern

(1787), 96-
Buel, David, holds trade conference

(1798), 133.
Buel, Elizabeth C. Barney (Mrs.
John L.), lectures, ix; editor, in;
state regent, D. A. R. {portrait),
248.
Buel, Dr. Henry W. {portrait),
233; assists to revive Litchfield
Institute. 237; stables described,
266; buys Beecher house, 112.

INDEX

Buel, Deacon John, on map 1720, i;
settler of Litchfield, 14; on com-
mittee to hire a minister, 27;
early selectman, 38; town of
Goshen organized at his house,
45 ; sketch of, 440.

Buel, Mrs. John, inscription on her
tombstone, 211.

Buel, Dr. John Laidlaw, heads Red
Cross home service, 260; portrait,
260.

Buel, John W., mines for Copper,
215.

Buel, Mary, . donor to Junior Re-
public, 273.

Buel, Capt. Salmon, centenarian,
212; wounded at Wilton, 84;
account of Washington's visit, 89;
sees deer, 176.

Buet, Capt. Solomon, in French
war, 48; marries Eunice Gris-
wold, 43.

Buel Council, officers of, 319.

Buel-Marsh reunion, 212.

Buel sanitarium, on site of Mili-
tary depot, 79; includes Beecher
homestead, 112.

Bulkeley, Alice T., "Historic Litch-
field," viii; quoted, 176.

Bulkley, David, wood-carver, 130;
plants trees in West Park, 171.

Bulkley, David C, quoted, 34;

Bulkley and Cooke, cabinet makers,
130.

Bull, "Aunt," boarding house for
Pierce pupils, 115.

Bull, Dorothy, aid acknowledged,
viii; author of Chapter VII., 65;
chapter on Modern Litchfield,
263.

Bunce, I., editor, 30; publishes news-
papers, 138.

Bunnell, Corp. Franklin M., mor-
tally wounded at Winchester,
225.

Burgess, Loring, plays flute, 119.

Burgoyne. Sir John, surrenders at
Saratoga, 87.

Burke, Patrick C, first selectman,
260.

Bumham, Mrs. Gordon W., orga-
nizes Red Cross fete, 246.

Burr, Aaron, enlists, 71; disguised
messenger, 72; student of Judge
Reeve, loi.

Burr, Maj., sends men to Litch-
field, 22.

Burrell, Mrs. Chas., as horsewoman,
267.

Bushnell, Rev. Horace, Centennial
sermon, "Age of Homespun,"
commended, 48; printed nearly in
full, 50; develops state parks, 188.

Business and Professional lists,
1920, 314.

Busk, Frederick W., in Harjes am-
bulance service, 258.

Busk, Lieut. Joseph R., wounded
and awarded D. S. C, 257.

Butler, Charles, wax-work ex-
hibition, 124.

Butler, Rev. David, Episcopal min-
ister. 120.

Button mill in Milton, 133.

Buttonwood trees, symbolizing Tha
States, 169.

Byrne, Rev. M., first resident R. C.
pastor, 201.

Cabinet-makers in Litchfield, 130.

Caesar, Oliver Wolcott's slave,
freed, 152.

Calkins, Benj., on 1720 map, it.

CaUioim, John C, at Litchfield Law
Schools, 107; plants elms, 169.

Camels on exhibition {1791), 124.

Camp, Rev. Joseph E.., first Episco-
pal minister in Northfield, 186;
as a teacher, 187.

Camp Columbia, i, 273.

Camp Devens, first detachment
leaves for, 253.

Camp Dutton, rendezvous of county
regiment (1862), 220; monument
at, 269.

Camp on Bantam road, 170.

Canaan, rivalry with Litchfield,
46.

Canaan Turnpike, 95.

Canfield, Samuel, in Beebe's com-
pany, 74.

Canfield sisters, of Sharon, pupils
of Pierce school, 119.

Canning, Committee on, 248.

Canoe Club, 332.

Canoeing as a sport, 243.

Canstanawacta (Bantam Library)
Club, 328.

Carding mills in Litchfield, 132.

Carriage -making in Litchfield, 130;
in Bantam, 191.

Carter, Howard W., aid ac-
knowledged, ix.

Catholic, see also Roman Catholic.

Catholic Women's Benevolent Le-
gion, 321.

Catlin, Alexander, chosen constable,
82; and Moses, build second court
house, 96.

Catlin, Candace, wife of Morris
Woodruff, 210.

Catlin, Daniel, postmaster at North-
field, 187; builds school, 187.

Catlin, Lieut. Eli., in French war,
48.

Catlin, Franklin H., pres. Northfield
Knife Co., 188.

Catlin, George, engraving of Judge
Reeve, 100.

Catlin, Grove, anecdote of, 119;
daughter Flora, 119; see also
Catlin's Tavern.

Catlin, J. Howard, secretary North-
field Knife Co., 188.

Catlin, John, first county treasurer
(1751), 46.

Catlin, Deacon John, opens school
in Northfield (1845), 187..

Catlin, Thomas, appraiser, 74; lieut.
in Bradley's company, 78; dep-
osition made by, 78.

Catlin's Tavern, (afterward Man-
sion House. .7. v). elephant ex-
hibited at, (1806), 125; view from,
no.

Cattey, Henry, killed in action in
France, 256.

Cedar Creek, Litchfield reg't at,
224.

INDEX

Cemeteries of Litchfield, 201 ; of
Milton, 189; of Northfield, 186;
of South Farms, 178; pasturage
in, 178, 186.

Cemetery Associations, 203, 334.

Centenarian (Salmon Buel), 212.

Centenarians in Milton, 205.

Centennial of 1851 (ill.us.) 211; St.
Michael's, 212; of the county, 212;
of the churches. 212; of Indepen-
dence, 213.

Center Park, planned by Mary
Pierce, 171.

Certificates, French, distributed
261.

Champion, Col. Henry, accompanies
supply train, 88.

Champion, Rev. Judah, 28, 32; be-
gins pastorate, 65; prays God to
destroy British, 85; sketch by
Rev. Frank J. Goodwin quoted,
72; described by Oliver Wolcott,
Jr.. 145; his equivocal prayer for
Jefferson, 163; rudely treated at
Democratic festival. 165.

Champlin, John D.. Jr., edits The
Sentinel (i865-'69), 139; his
sanctum, 235; author of "Chron-
icles of Sirrom," 233.

Chapel, Caleb, on 1720 map, i.

Cbapman, Rev. Adelbert P., rector
Trinity Church, Northfield, con-
ducts summer home (1901-17),
186.

Chapman, Mr., principal of Morris
Academy (i82o-'3i), 185.

Charter of Charles II, 7.

Charter Oak, 8.

Chase, Rez'. Amos, donation party
to (1708), 35.

Chase H. S.. buys Echo Farm, 265.

Cheney, Silas E., (d. 1820), cab-
inet maker, 130.

Chester, Caroline, pupil at Pierce
School, diary quoted, 114, i(7"
her late hours, 117; account of
tavern party, 118.

Chestnut Hill, home-lots on, 15; fori
or garrison on, 26; settlement or,
40; pest house on, 41; coach fac-
tory on, 130; site of camp Button
(1862), 220.

Chief Justices; Seymour, 214; Sey-
mour and Andrews, 231.

China Trading Co. of Litchfield,
137-

Cliri'Jtening-bowl given to Cong.
Church by Col. Tallmadge, 37.

Christian Endeavor Society, 337.

"Chronicles of Sirrom," political
pamphlet, 233.

"Chronicles of a Pioneer School,"
viii.

Church centennials, 212.

Church, first, 15.

Church of England, see Episcop.vl

Church, Judge Samuel, address at
county centennial, 212; quoted, 17;
roll-call of county bar, 99.

Churches of Litchfield (chapter),
195; in Bantam, 193; in Milton,
189; in Northfield, 186; in early
times, 58.

Churches, see also Baptist, Con-
gregational, Episcopal, Metho-
dist, Roman Catholic.

Churchill, Sergeant Joseph, com-
mands scouts at Litchfield, 22.

Chusqunnoag, Indian grantor, 12.

Circuit preachers (Methodist), list
of, 295.

Circulating Library Association, list
of officers, 327.

Civil Lists, 310.

Civil War (Chap, xxi), 217; honor
roll of, 287; memorials, 269.

Clark Bros., Kansas City, buy
Northfield Knife factory (1919),
188.

Clark, Oliver, cabinet maker, 130.

Clark, William, carriage-maker,
130-

Clayton, John M., at Litchfield Law
School, 107.

"Clergy of Litchfield County,"
quoted, 37.

Clergymen, lists of, 292.

Clerks of the Superior Court, list,

SOS-
Climate of Litchfield, 264.

Clothiers in Litchfield, 133.

Clubs in Litchfield, 243.

Cocksure, Indian grantor, 16.

Coit, Charles H., chairman Liberty
Loan committee (portrait), 249;
elms near his house, 170.

Coit, Mrs. Charles H., chairman
Red Cross Production Committee,
1916-19, 246, 250.

Coit, Elizabeth K., assists in com-
piling app^endix, 277; aid ac-
knowledged, ix.

Coit, Henry R., promoter of
Shepaug Railroad, 210; assists to
revive Litchfield Institute, 237.

Coit, Mrs. Henry R.. horses
described, 266.

Cold Harbor, Litchfield reg't at,
222; charge at (illus), 224.

Cole, Samuel, at Fort Washington,
77-

Colgate, William, donor to library,
27; a donor of Conn. Jr. Republic
buildings, 273.

Collier, Thomas, publisher, 133;
issues Monitor, 138; his printing
office, post repository, 94.

Collins, Benj., on 1720 map, ii.

Collins, John, first grand juror, 38;
builder of Phelps House, 96.

Collins, Loraine or Laura, wife ot
Oliver Wolcott, 143. See also
Wolcott.

Collins, Rev. Timothy, on 1720 map,
ii; messenger to carry memorial
to Assembly, 22; first pastor m
town, 27; withdraws from office
(1751), 28; surgeon in French war
(1755). 28, 48; unpopularity aids
Episcopal Church, 28, 196.

Colljjns, Mrs. Timothy, visit to
Goshen in storm, 207.

Colonial Days (chapter), 38.

Colonial Hall, formerly Con-
gregational Church, 19s, 268.

Columbia Camp, i, 273.

Colvocoresses, Admiral Geo. P., at
Manila Bay, 273; presides at Wel-
come Home Day, 261; his own
welcome, 273; (portrait), 272.
Colvocoresses Day, 1899, (illus.), 273.

INDEX

Colvocoresses, Harold and George,
in Spanish war, 273.

Colvocoresses house, trees planted
by G. H. Hollister, 170.

Committee of inspection (revolution-
ary), 70.

Committee to raise contributions for
blockaded Boston, 70.

Common pleas court instituted, 46.

Communion service given by Col.
Tallmadge and Julius Deming, 37.

Community Centre, 273.

Company formed to settle I<itchfield,

_ 14.

Compo, near Norwalk, Conn.,
British landing at, 83.

Confederation, Articles of, con-
firmed by town of Litchfield, 87.

Congregational Church, organized
'in Ivitchfield, 27; old customs in,
36; strongly Federalist, 162; dis-
establishment of in Connecti-
cut, 167; welcomes Methodist
itinerant, 199; Centennial of, 212;
societies in, 336; first church
building, 28; second building, 28;
described by Mrs. Stowe, 29;
illus., 32; third building, 37;
illus., 194; fourth building
(illms.,) 195; first building in South
Farms, 178; second in South
Farms (1785), 178; in Northfield,
organized 1794, 186.

Congregational clergymen, list of,
292.

Connecticut Academy, vii.

Connecticut Electric Co., 192.

Connecticut Electric Manufacturing
Co., 343.

Connecticut Geological Survey,
quoted, 3.

Connecticut Mining Co., 215.

Connecticut Quarterly, article on
John Marsh, 11.

"Connecticut" tree still standing,
169.

Conscription, see Draft.

Consociations, centennial of, 212

Constitution of Connecticut, first, 7;
of 1818, Oliver Wolcott, Jr.,
author of, 167.

Constitutional Conventions, delc-
gates to, from Litchfield, 300.

Contents, Table of, xi; of appendix.

Continental Congress, First, 70.

Convention on non-importation, 69;
to raise regiment (1862), 219.

Cook, Jesse, lieut. in Beebe's com-
pany, 75.

Cooke, Capt., acknowledges iS
deeds, 10.

Cooke, Sally Washington, second
wife of Frederick Wolcott, 149.

Cooper, Ruth, dyer, 132.

Copper deposits in the Pitch, 214;
northeast of village, 215.

Corkscrew, Indian grantor, 12.

Cornwall, mission school in, 184;
pastor turns Episcopalian, 197;
rivalry with Litchfield, 46; turn-
pike to, 95.

Cornwell, Roy E., died on ship-
board, 256.

Cothren's history of Woodbury,
quoted, 16.

Cotton mill in Litchfield, 133. ■

Country Club, 332; as a hospital,
Z72.

County Centennial, 212; its records,
viii.

County Commissioners from Litch-
field, 306.

County Historical Society, 212.

County Mission Society, semi-cen-
tennial, 213.

County Post, The, newspaper,
(i825-'29), 139,

County Regiment, histories of, 219;
presentation of colors (thus).,
221.

County University Club, pubs, his-
tory of The County Regiment,
219. See also University Club.

Court House, first, 15; in centre
park, 96; second {illus.,) 96; on
site of depot for Military Stores,
79; as an educational factor, 238.

Courts, seated in Litchfield, 46; re-
moved, 46.

Cowles, Julia pupil at Pierce
school; diary quoted, 113.

Cradle Roll, Cong. Church, 337.

Craigie, Mrs. author, grand-
daughter of Rev. James Richards
of Litchfield, 236.

Crampton, Lieut., companion of
Ethan Allen, 71.

Crampton, Jas., in Beebe's com-
pany, 74.

Cranberry Pond, fish in, 176.

"Crazy Caroline," negro woman,
234- . .

Crowbar justice, newspaper nick-
name for Julius Deming, 164.

Crown Point surrenders, 71^

Crutch, Irene, yeowoman, 259.

Crutch, Marion, army nurse, 259.

Culver, Daniel, first hayward, 38.

Culver, E-, on 1720 map, i.

Culver, H., on 1720 map, i.

Culver, Samuel, builds "mount," 20;
on committee to lay out East
cemetery, 202.

Cunningham, Cecil, auxiliary nurse
in France, 259.

Currency, depreciation of (1777), 83;
Elisha Mason's experience, 91.

Cutler, George F., student at law
school, diary quoted, 114, 148,
209.

Cutler, Nancy, pupil at Pierce
school, death of, 113.

Cycling in Litchfield, 267.

Daggett, Judge David, tries Wol-
cott lawsuit, 137; chief justice,
204.

Daisy Chain, Congregational

Church Society, 336.

Dale, Porter H., gives Fourth of
July address (1918), 253.

Danbury, Conn., burned by
British, 83; stage line to, 95.

Dancing in Litchfield, 269.

Darius Chapter, officers, 319.

Daughters of the American Revo-
lution, 272, 322; Tallmadge
Chapter, "County Honor Roll,"
viii; work of, 213; co-operation
of in war work (1917), 248.

Davenport. Barnet, executed in
Gallows Lane, 40.

INDEX

Davies Hollow settled, 197;
assigned to town of Washington,

45-
Davies, David, joins British, 84.
Davies, John, of Kington, Eng.,

founder of St. Michael's, 196-
Davies, John Jr., comes from

Herefordshire, 197-
Day, Mrs. Harry G., owner of

Oliver Wolcott house, 147-
Deacon, Evelyn, yeowoman, 259-
Debating Society in South Farms

i842-'48, 178.
Declarations adopted Feb. 10,

1776, 67.
Deed of Litchfield, 12.
Deeds from Indians, condemned.

Deer in Litchfield (i76o-'7o),
175; return of, 176-

Deming, Adelaide, organizes do-
mestic science classes, 272.

Demmg, Clarence, anecdotes of
Beecher family, 34. 36-

Deming, Clarisse, aid acknowl-
edged, !X.

Deming, Emma, Catholic convert,
201.

Deming, Frederick, aid ac-
knowledged, ix; stables de-
scribed, 267; portrait, 266; his
house on North St., 231; trees
near it planted by G. U-
Hollister, 170.

Deming, Julius, part donor of
Communion service, 37; o"
school committee, 97; com-
missary officer, 91; builds The
Lindens, 91; builds second court-
house, 96; portrait, 136; his store
on North St., 130; establishes
paper mill, 133; wrecked on re-
turn voyage, 137; signs pledge
(1789), 158; lampooned in The
Witness, 164; sues it for libel,
164; supporter of missions, 185.

Deming, Julius (Jr)., as a
musician, 236.

Deming, Lucretia, miniature by
Anson Dickinson, 117; plants lin-
den trees, 170.

Deming, Dr. Nelson Lloyd, medical

officer in Great War, 253.
Deming, Dr. William as a musician,

236- . ..

Deming, Dr. Wm. Champion, medi-
cal officer in Great War, 253.

Democrat, The, newspaper (i833-'34)i

138.

Democratic Watchman, The, news-
paper (1844), 139.

Democrats, methods of (1801), 162;
hold political "festivals," 163;
win on toleration issue, 166.

Desertions due to bounties (1861).
218.

Devines, Clayton A., dies in camp,
256.

Dewey, George, wood-carver, 130.

Dewey, John and Daniel, cart pow-
der from Lebanon, 86.

Dickinson, Anson, Miniature of Lucy
Sheldon, 116; of Lucretia Dem-
ing, 117.

Dickinson, Edith L., contributor for

Milton, ix.
Dickinson, Michael, 41.
Dickinson, Reuben and Edwin P.,

Milton centenarians, 205.
Dillon, Sydney, stables described,

265.
Dilworth's Spelling Book, 143.
Dinosaurs, 5.

Disestablishment of the Con-
gregational Church, 167.
District, judicial, formed, 46.
District Nursing Association, 272,

329.
Domestic Science Classes, 272.
Donohue, Joseph, killed in action
(1918), 256. „ . . ,.

Doolittle, Benjamin, joms British,

84; owns oil mill, 133.
Doster, Alexis, aviator, 252.
Doster, Mrs. Alexis, auxihary nurse

in France, 259.
Doute, Charles Nicholas, West

Indian negro, 233.
Dove, Mrs. John, supervisor Red

Cross hospital garments, 250.
Draft evaded (i777). 83; recruits
raised by (1782), 90; of 1863, 218:
of 1917. 253.
Drumlins, occurrence of, 6.
Duffie, Archibald B., horses de-
scribed, 266.
Duffie, Cornelius R., Jr., aid ac-
knowledged, ix; edits The En-
quirer (1891 -'4), 140.
Dutch and Indian troubles, 7.
Dutton, Deacon, plans meeting

house, Northfield, 186.
Dutton, Lieut. Henry M., Camp

Dutton named for, 220.
Dwight, Rev. Edwin Welles, first
principal of South Farms mis-
sion school, 184.
Dwight, H. W., writes bfe of
Obookiah, 185; life of by grand-
son, 185.
Dwight, R- H. W., aid ac-
knowledged, ix; his life of his
grandfather Rev. H. W., 185.
Dyeing in Litchfield, 132-
Dykes, Mrs. Wm. J., leader Junior
Red Cross, 251.

East cemetery laid out (i7S5). 202.
Cemetery Co. incorporated, 334-

East Litchfield, 11.

East Park, its trees, 171.

East St., is; houses on, 352.

East and West Streets, line of,
39.

Eastern Star, order of, 3I9-

Ecclesiastical Societies, 31.

Echo Farm, 264.

Echo Farm Co., 265.

Edgeworth's "Unknown Friend
dramatized by Catherine Bee-
cher, 123.

Edison, Thomas A., inspects old
Copper mines, 214.

Electric Light and Power Co.,
342.

Eles, Maj., sends men to Litch-
field, 22.

INDEX

Elevation of Litchfield, i.
Eliot, John, grantee, 12.
Elliot, Jack, Virginia negro, 234.
EHsworth, W. W., address quoted,

74-

Elm Park Institute; old Pierce
Academy building, 112.

Elm Ridge, how named, 170; third
choice in home lots, 15; milestone
at, 93; silk worms raised at, 134-

Elms, used to replace original
buttonwoods. i&j; planted by Cal-
houn. 160, 170; by others, 170.

Elton, John P., householder, 96;
owner of Sheldon House, loi.

Emma Deming Council, Catholic
Women's Benevolent Legion, 321.

Enlistments, short, in Revolution, 74.

Ennis, Florence Elizabeth, aid ac-
knowledged, viii; on history com.,
vii ; author of Chapter on World
War, 245; co-author of appendix,
277-

Enquirer, The, newspaper (1829 — ),
139. 235; P. K. Kilbourne editor of.
zii; Red Cross Souvenir edition,

245-

Ensign, Samuel Morris, principal of

Morris Academv. iRs.
Ensign, William, drowned in Great

Pond, 126.
Ephraim Kirby Chapter, Order of

the Eastern Star, 319.
Episcopalians, oppose Revolution,

67; complain of exclusion from

office, 166.
Episcopal Church, account of T96;

regarded as Tory, 163; in the

Revolution, 197; first building

(1749). ill.us.. 58; in Bantam. 193;

in Milton, i8g; pioneer church in

Northfield, 186; legacy of S. P.

Beers, 213.
Episcopal churches, see also 5t.

Michael's, St. Paul's, Trinitv.
Episcopal Church Societies, 339.
Episcopal Clergymen, list of, 293.
Episcopal ecclesiastical society

founded, 28. 196; second. 198.
Epworth League, 338; in Bantam,

339-
Equal Franchise League, 331.
Ericsson, John, experiments with

iron -clad vessels, 190.
Established church in Connecticut,

163.
European War, honor roll of, 291.
Evening votes invalid, 40.
Exchange of prisoners, delay scored

by Dr. Smith, 83.
Expense account of John Marsh, 10.

Factories, 128, 134; in Bantam, 191,

269; in Milton, 190.
Falls Village, district courts at, 46.
Farm Bureau, 248. 272, 332.
Farmington tribe, 8.
Famham, John, builds Sabbath

Day house, 30.
Famham, John R., edits The

Sentinel (i869-'75), 139.
Faults in strata, 5.
Federalist preponderance (1801)

162; said to have plotted disunion,

107.
Female Academy, built for Miss

Pierce, 112.

Fence -viewers, duties of, 173.
Fences, regulation of, 173; influence

of on snow, 239.
Festivals (Democratic ralHes), 163;

elaborate one at Litchfield, 164.
Finch, Prof. Jas. K., topographical

contributor, ix.
Fire Department, 270, 334; parade

of alius.,) 334.
Fire of 1886, {illus.,) 267; of i886-'88,

270.
Firewood for minister, 27.
First Episcopal Society, 196.
First National Bank, organized, 166;
illus., 166; lists of officers, 341.
Fischer, S. Carl, aid acknowledged,

ix.
Fish Commission, stock lake with

trout, 177.
Fish in Litchfield. 176.
Fisher's Hill, Litchfield reg't at,

224.
Fitch, Mr., charge for writing 20

deeds, 10.
Flax in Litchfield, 133.
Flood in Bantam (1797), 129.
Flute-players, 119.
Flynn and Doyle, Bantam carriage

makers, 191.
Folly, The, site of inoculation hospi-
tal, 41.
Food Conservation (1917), 248.
Foot, S., on 1720 map, ii.
Footville cemetery. 178.
Foreigners in Litchfield, 233, 269.
Forfeiture of lands by absentee

settlers, 24.
Fort George, attacked by Col. Tall-

madge, 89.
Fort Lee, Beebe's company at, 75;

capture of, 76.
Forts built near Litchfield, 20.
Forward, Samuel, on 1720 map, ii.
Foster, Abbott, donor to library,

272.
Foster, Herman, contributor for

Bantam, ix., 190.
Fox Brook, source of water supply,

341.
Franklin, Benjamin, quoted, 67.
Franklin, Gov. William, prisoner of

war at Litchfield, 79.
Freemasons, lists of officers, 318.
French (Acadians) take refuge in

Litchfield, 201.
French, J., on 1720 map, i.
"French Markets" in connection
with food-conservation work,
248.
French teachers in Litchfield, 237.
French Wars, 48; honor roll of,

281.
Fulling mills in Litchfield, 132.

Gallows Lane, 15; widest street, 40.

Ganung, Travis F., aid acknowl-
edged, ix.

Garden Club, 272, 333; its conser-
vation work, 248.

Gardner, Melzar, publishes The
Democrat, 138.

Garnets, occurrence of, 4, 215.

Garnsey, Noah, contributes gun, 74.

Garreit, Joshua, publishes The
County Post, 139.

Garretson, Rev. Freeborn, apostle of
Methodism, visit of, 199.

INDEX

Garrisons for defence, 21.

Garritt, Joshua, on 1720 map, n.
on committee to lay out East
cemetery, 202.

Gasless Sundays, 249.

Gates, Dr. Howard E., as a musi-
cian, 236.

Gatta, John, Hessian soldier, settler
in Litchfield, 90-

Gay, Col. Ebenezer, 69.

Gay, Col. Fisher, commissioned, 71.

Gay, J., on map, 1720, i. ^ „ „ , ,

Gazette, The, newspaper (1808-09),

138-
Gazetteer of Connecticut, quoted on

Litchfield Industries, 128.
Geese, to be impounded, i73-
General training, account of Eliza
Ogden, 125; of Younglove Cutler,
126.
Geology of Litchfield, 2.
George in., statue melted, 79-
German, John, dismissed from

army, 75.
Gibbs, Benjamin, early settler, 43;

first surveyor, 38.
Gibbs, George (Jr)., quoted, 84;
"Federal Administration," quoted
148.
Gibbs, George, (Sr)., letter from

Oliver Wolcott, Jr., 166.
Gibbs, Gershom, first male child
born, 43; dies on prison ship, 76-
Gibbs, Isaac, died in Sugar House

prison, 77.
Gibbs, J., on 1720 map, i.
Gibbs, Justice, builds first church in

South Farms, 179-
Gibbs, Tabitha, receives money, 75-
Gibbs, Ensign Zebulon, in French

war, 4S; dies at 92, 43.
Gilbert, Cass, plans Conn. Jr. Re-
public buildings, 273.
Gilbert, William L., gives parsonage

and library to Northfield, 186.
Giles, Josiah, publishes Ttie Mercury
also The Democratic Watchman,

139-
Gillett, Jos., on 1720 map, 11.
Gillick, Rev. PhiUp, early Catholic

priest, 201.
Girl Scouts, 324.
Glaciers, 6.

Gleason, Samuel, dies in service, 75.
Glebe, The, residence, 32.
Goddard, J. Warren, stables de-
scribed, 266.
Golden Age of Litchfield, 92.
Golden Weddinars in Litchfield, 274-
Goldsmiths in Litchfield, 134-
Goodenough, Arthur, quoted, 37.
Goodrich, Chauncey, marries Mari-

ann Wolcott, 149.
Goodrich, Mariann. tells anecdote of
James Gould, 148; letter on tem-
perance, 157.
Goodrich, W., on 1720 map, i.
Goodrich, William, first constable,

38- . . .,-,

Goodwin, printer, issues 1 he

Gazette, 138.
Goodwin, Edw. C, publishes The

Enqxdrer, 139 •

Goodwin, Rcr. Frank J., sermon on
Judah Champion quoted, 72; ad-
dress for first Liberty Loan cam-
paign, 249.
Goodwin, Henry L., his interest in

East Park, 171.
Goodwin, Nath., on 1720 map, ii.
Goodwin, Capt. Nathaniel, com-
mands company (1776), 81.
Goodwin, Ozias, ensign in Nathaniel
Goodwin's company, 81; wounded
at Wilton, 84; on committee to
regulate hogs, 173.
Goodwin, Phineas, contributes gun,
74; dies in North Church prison,
77-
Goshen, comprised in Indian "Ban-
tam," 11; formerly called "IVew
Bantam," 190; organized as a
town, 45; rivalry with Litchfield,
46.
Gould, James, biog. sketch of, 103;
portrait, 104; law school lecturer,
98; Uriah Tracy's son-in-law, loi;
lampooned in The Witness, 164;
counsel against Oliver Wolcott,
Jr., 137; anecdote of, 148.
Gould, James K., plants elms, 170.
Gould house, illus., 109.
Gould law school building, 109.
Governors from Litchfield, 297.
Grand Army of the Republic. 522.
Grange, Beacon (Northfield), 320.
Grange, Litchfield, Patrons of Hus-
bandry, 320; founded, 264; holds
rally, 251; in Welcome Home pa-
rade, 261.
Grant, Lieut. Jesse, in captivity, 83.
Graves, Henry B., lawyer, 238.
Green, Albert G., R- _ L, senator,

writes poem "Old Grimes," 154.
Green, trial of, for irurder, 238.
Green, Litchfield, denuded of build-
ings, 175; about i860 (illus)., 350;
about 1912, 351.
Greenwoods, The, 2.
Greenwoods turnpike, 2.
Grimes, William, runaway slave.
153; original of "Old Grimes,"
154.
Grist mills in Litchfield, 133.
Griswold, Daniel, grantee, 12.
Griswold, Daniel, enlists men for

British army, 84; hanged, 84.
Griswold, Eunice, first white child

bom, 43.
Griswold, Capt. Jacob, early settler,
15; on 1720 map, i; builds
"mount," 20; captured by Indians,
18; St. Michael's church organized
in his house, 196.
Griswold, John, of Milton, invents

iron-clad vessel, 190.
Griswold, T., on 1720 map, i.
Griswold Street, 15.
Guinchi, August, killed in France,

256.
Guion, Hobart and George, organize
Litchfield Rifles, 1916, 247.

INDEX

Hadley, Mass., birthplace of John

Marsh, ii.
Hall, David, dies on "Grosvcnor,"

76.

Hampden, John, 7.

Handel, John, killed at Cold Har-
bor, 224.

Hanks, Benjamin, builder of Parks
Hotel, 96; goldsmith, 134.

Hannah, Hugh, buys indented ser-
vant, 154.

Harris, Joseph, excepted from for-
feiture act, 24; killed by Indians,

19-

Harris Plain, geoloRy of. 6; origin of
name, 19; BisselFs wheel factory
on, 132; elms on, 170.

Harrison, Elihu, in Beebe's com-
pany, 74.

Harrison, Ensign Gideon, in French
war, 48.

Harrison, Roswell, owns pest house,
42.

Harrison, Capt. Thomas, first meet-
ing of South Farms church in his
house, 178; marries Acadian, 201.

Harrisons, negro family, 234.

Hart, J., on 1720 map, i.

Hart, Rev. Mr., of Plymouth, Lyman
Beecher's account of his ordi-
nation, 160.

Hartford, Courant, quoted, 29.

Hartford, settlement of, 7; granted
Western Lands, 8; jail delivery
in, 8; post connection with, 94;
daily stage line to, os; oarks de-
veloped by Horace Bushnell, 188.

Hartland schist, 30.

Harvard Law School founded, io8.

Harvest Festivals, 264.

Harwinton, possible site of Matta-
tuck, 9; turnpike to, 94.

Haskins, Abraham, receives mileage,
75.

Ilat factories in Litchfield, 132.

Hatcher's Run, Litchfield reg't at,
225.

Hatters' Brook, The first St.
Michael's Church on hill near, 196.

Hawaiian missions, 184.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, account of
Litchfield, quoted, 153.

Hayes, S. G., publishes The Sun,
138.

Hayward, duties of, 173.

Heath, Edward P., : aviator, 253.

"Heathen school" (mission), 184.

Hibbard, Rez: A. G., Hist, of
Goshen, 45.

Hickok, Rev. Laurens P., installed
pastor of Congregational Church,
195-

Hickox, Frances E., canteen worker
in France, 259.

Hickox, George A., edits The En-
quirer (i866-'9i), 140; anecdotes of,
235-

Hickox, Mrs. George A., first librar-
ian Circulating Library, 326.

High School Alumni Associatior.
329-

High St., houses on, 349.

Highways, early, 40.

Hillhouse, James, inspires tree-
planting, 168

HinchclifT, opens shear shop in Mil-
ton, 129.

Hine, Daniel, in war with Spain, 273.

"Historic Litchfield," viii.

Historical Society, Litchfield, ix, 325;
files used, viii; first home, illus.,
1; building, 272; collection of
arrowheads, 17.

Historical Societies, 212.

Histories, earlier, vii.

Hobbes, John Oliver, pseud, of Mrs.
Craigie of Litchfield descent, 236.

Hockey, 268.

Holdich, Prof., preaches Methodist
dedication sermon, 1827, 199.

Hollister, Gideon H., History of
Connecticut, viii; introductory ad-
dresses at County Historical So-
ciety, 212; account of Judge
Gould, 103; of Sarah Pierce, 115;
as a tree-lover, 170; and "Aunt
Lucy," anecdote, 234.

Home Economics Committee of
Farm Bureau, 248.

Home Guard formed, 247; in armis-
tice parade, 260.

Home-lots, choice of, 15.

Homespun fabrics in Litchfield, 51.

Honor Flag awarded to Litchfield
for Third Liberty Loan, 250.

Honor Rolls, 281.

Honor Roll of Litchfield County,
ix.

Hooker, Rev. Thomas, 7.

Hopkins, Lieut. Asa, in French war,
48.

Hopkins, Asa, Northfield Manu-
facturer, 186.

Hopkins, Margaret, Pierce school
pupil, 117.

Hopkinson, Joseph, description of
Oliver Wolcott, Jr., 146.

Hoppin, Prof. James M., owner of
Sheldon House, loi.

Hoppin, J. Mason, stables described,
265; polo-player, 267.

Horse-boat on Bantam Lake (1826),
127-

Horse Shows, 264.

Horses in Litchfield, 265; regulated
by vote, 173.

Horsford, John, on committee to
regulate hogs, 173.

Horton, EHsha, paper-mill foreman,

133-

Hosford, Benj., on 1720 map, ii.

Hosford, Isaac, builds Sabbath Day
house, 300.

Hosford, Nathaniel, 24; early select-
man, 38.

Hosmer, Charles, issues The
Gazette, 138.

Hospital, Country Club as, 272.

Hospitals, 41; rules governing, 42.

Housatonic railroad, opening of,
209.

Hubbard, Elizabeth, wife of James
Morris, 181.

Hubbard, John H., civil war Con-
gressman, 225.

Hubbard, Mrs. John H., stables de-
scribed, 266.

Hubbard, John T., lecture on early
mines, 214.

Hubbard, Miriam, service in influ-
enza epidemic, 273.

INDEX

Hubbard, Philip P. and John T.,
(portraits), 301.

Hubbard, Mrs. Philip P., chairman
Home Economics committee of
Farm Bureau, 248; organizes do-
mestic science classes, 272.

Hudson, Rev. Henry N., Shakes-
peare scholar, rector of St.
Michael's i858-'6o, 198.

Hull, Franklin, edits The Repuhli-
can, 139.

Hull, Capt. William, overseer of
pest houses, 42.

Humaston, John, settler of North-
field, i?6.

Humiston, Mrs. Bennett, gives
Trinity Rectory, Northfleld, 186.

Humiston, John Pierpont, invents
first duplex telegraph, 188.

Humiston, Rev. Wallace, Northfield
librarian, 186.

Humphrey, James, Jr., publishes
The Enquirer, 139.

Humphrey's regiment ordered to
Peekskill, 87.

Hunt, Geo. H.. aid acknowledged
ix: town clerk. 258; appoints lo-
cal food committees, 248; portrait,
308.

Hunt, Russell and Bros., iron-foun-
dry, 129.

Huntington, Betsey, marries

Frederick Wolcott, 149.

Huntington. Rev. Dan, 32; his ac-
count of Litchfield, 92; rudely
treated at Democratic festival,
165

Huntington. Jabez W.. lawyer, 214;
lecturer in Litchfield Law School,
108; a donor of first organ, 195.

Hutchins, Rev. John, pastor Con-
gregational Church (1894-1915'),
Tq6; aids in establishing Junior
Reoublic, 330.

Hutchins, Mary A., aid acknowl-
edged, ix.

Hyatt, H. W., publishes The En-
quirer, 139.

Ice age in Litchfield, 5.

Ice industry on Bantam Lake, 191.

Ice-storms. 208; of 1898 (illus), 206.

Iffland, John, killed at Cold Har-
bor, 224.

Illustrations, list of, xii.

Image, Indian, reported found, 17.

Indented servants in Litchfield, 154.

Indian Association, Litchfield
Branch, 325.

Indians, account of, 16; annual
visits of, 175; depredations by, 18,
19; in Cornwall mission school,
185; rights purchased, 8; war of
1722, 20; weapons, 17.

Industries of early times, 60; of
Litchfield (Chap, xii), 128; sum-
mary of, 134; of Litchfield County,
paper by E- C. B. Buel. 128.

Influenza epidemic of 1918, 272.

Inoculation for small pox, 42, 43.

Intemperance at an ordination, 160.

Introductory chapter, i.

Irish in Litchfield, 234, 269;
Catholics, 201.

Iron foundries in Litchfield, 129.
Italians in Litchfield, 269. \

Ives, Geo. C, warden of borough,
260.

Jackson of N. Y., makes first organ

1827, 19s.
Jackson, Lieut. Robert F., trains

Litchfield Rifles, 247; marshal

of Welcome Home procession (as

Major), 261.
Jackson, Lucy and Caroline, de-
scendants of Litchfield slaves,

234-
Jackson, Tom, slave of Col. Tall-

madge, 154.
Jacobs, John, Indian, murderer, 19.
Jail at Litchfield, houses British

prisoners of war, 79; illus., 171.
Jail lot, 33rd choice, 15.
James 11., accession of, 7.
Jamus, Caesar, freed slave of Oliver

Wolcott, 152.
Jeflferson, Thomas, partisans of in

Litchfield, 162; Rev. Judah

Champion's prayer for, 163.
Jeffries, Robert P., dies at Camp

Gordon, 253.
Jeffries (R. P.,) Post, American

Legion, Bantam, 323.
Jephthah's Daughter, play by Sarah

Pierce, 123.
Jericho Ford, Litchfield reg't ?t, 222.
"Jimmy Dross," newspaper nick-
name for Judge Could, 164.
Johnson, Amos, dies in Sugar House

prison, 76.
Johnson, Rev. Dr. Samuel, of King's

College performs first Episcopal

service, 196.
Johnson, Solon B., lawyer and wit,

238; edits The Sentinel (1869),

139-
Johnston, Yale in The Revolution,

contnins extiacts from James

Morris's narrative, 181.
Jones, Albert N., killed at Cold

Harbor, 224.
Jones, Henrietta, successor of Sarah

Pierce, 114.
Jones, Henry R., residence includes

old schc-'I building, 112; stables

described, 266.
Jones, Rev. Isaac, centennial ser-
mon of St. Michael's (1845), i97.

212.
Journal, The, newspaper, discon-
tinued (1819), 138.
Joy, David, joins British, 84.
Judd, Jesse L., as horseman, 267.
Judea (now Washington) set off

from Woodbury. 45.
Judges from Litchfield, 300.
Judson, I., on 1720 map, i.
Junior Red Cross, 252.
Junior Republic, Connecticut branch,

273, 330; Litchfield Aid of, 331;

in the Great War, 256; mining

venture on site of, 215.
Justices of the peace, list, 302.
Juvenile Folio, newspaper, ('822).

138.

Kehow, Indian grantor, 12.

Keller, Dr. John, medical officer in
Great War, 253.

Kellogg, Lieut. Col. of county regi-
ment, 221 ; Col. of Litchfield
reg't, killed at Cold Harbor, 223.

INDEX

Kenney, Claia, as horsewoman, 267.

Kenney, George, quoted, 226.

Kent, Indians of, 16; iron mines
in, 47.

Kepaquamp, Indian grantor, 8.

Kilborn, Abraham, joins British, 84.

Kilbom, Charles, joins British, 84

Kilborn, David, joins British, 84.

Kilbom, J., on 1730 map, i.

Kilbom, Samuel, joins British, 84.

Kilbourn, Ehvight C, "Bench and
Bar." viii.; quoted, 11; gives law
school building, 103; portrait, 220;
co-author, 201.

Kilbourn, Mrs. Dwight C, aid ac-
knowledged, ix.

Kilbourn, Giles, builds Episcopal
Church in Bantam, 129.

Kilbourn, Joseph, admitted as resi-
dent, 38; builds "mount," 20.

Kilbourne, Payne Kenyon, historian,
210; sketch of, 211; works of.
2I2-, his History of Litchfield, vii,
213; his "Litchfield Biographies."
viii.; publishes Ernvirer i845-'53.
139; first secretary county histori-
cal society, 213.
Kilby, John, drowned by falling

from canoe, 126.
Kilravock Farm, fetes for Red

Cross at, 243, 246.
King's attorneys (list), 305.
Kingsbury, Edith D., owns comer,

IS-
Kingsbury, Frederick J., address
quoted on Hartford jail riot, 8.

Kingsbury, Sarah, pupil at Pierce
school, papers quoted, T14.

Kirby, Ephraitn, early law-reports.
99; appointed Louisiana judge,
loi; owns oil mill, 133; signs
pledge (1789), 158.

Kirwin, James, aviator, 252; sur-
vivor of torpedoed Tuscania, 257.

Knapp, Shepherd, Fresh Air Home,
Milton, 190.

Knapp, Rev. Shepherd, in Y. M. C.
A. service, 259.

Knife factory in Northfield, 188.

Knights of Columbus, 321; in Wel-
come Home parade, 261.

Koser, Elsie, army nurse, 259.

Kyanite, occurrence of, 4.

Ladies Aid Society, Methodist

Church, 338.
Ladies' Society of United Workers,

Bantam Methodist Church, 33?.
Lafayette, ball to (1824), 96; M.

Laslier's lecture on, 237.
Lake Street, 15.
Lakes, glacial, 6.
Laloux, M., French teacher, 237.
Lancaster, John H., chairman of

Red Cross Drive, 250; (portrait),

306-
Landon, Daniel, candidate for jus-
tice, 166; gives land to St.

Michael's (Church, 197.
Landon, Ensign David, in French

war, 48.
Landon, John R., sheriff, in charge

of Selleck Osbom, 164.
Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, 33.
Langford, Lieut. Thomas Alex.

wounded twice in Great War, 252.

Laslier, M., French teacher, 237.

Latitude of Litchfield, 1.

Lavas, occurrence of, 5.

Lavin family, 234.

Law, pre-revolutionary, 99.

Law School, 92; (chapter), 98; course

of study, 104; list of students, 311.
Law School Building (Gould), illns.,

ids; moving of, through Green,

101 ; presentation exercises, viii,"
Lawn Chih, 267.

Lead, black, found in hill, 8, 9.
"Leading Citizens of L. County,"

viii.
Lebanon, home of Dea. John Buel,

T4.

Lee, Thomas, on 1720 map, i; first
surveyor, 38; custodian of stray
heifers, 174.
Legate, Rev. Ray H., Baptist minis-
ter in Bantam, 200.
Legislature, members of, from

Litchfield, 297.
Lenox, Mass., post route to, 47.
Lewis, Bertram, residence of, 176.
Lewis, Capt. EHhu, commands

militia cavalry, 125.
Lewis, Mary Ann., sketch by, 32.
Lewis, Ozias, on committee to regu-
late hogs, 173.
Lewis, S.. on 1720 map, i.
Lewis, William, granted land, 8.
L'Hommedieu, Ezra, slave-dealer,

151-
Libel suit of Julius Deming against

The Witness, 164.
Liberty Loan campaign, 248; Fourth,

opened with song, 250.

Library, first, (1785), 180; (1798), 97;

Wolcott, 271, 326; list of Wol-

cott Library officers, 327: Wol-

colt ard Litchfield, 326; building

Gllus), 271; aid acknowledged, ix.

Library (Bantam), 328.

Library corner; 2Sth choice in home

lots, 15.
Lightning-rod, first, 31.
Limestone formation, 2.
Lincoln, Jeanie Gould, "an Un-
willing Maid," viii.
Lincoln's calls for volunteers, 218.
Lindens, The, built by Julius Dem-
ing (1793), 91; named for trees
planted by Lucretia Deming,
170; illus., 137.
Lindley, Willard P., in work for

blinded soldiers, 259.
Lindley house, trees planted by G.

H. Hollister, 170.
Liston, British minister, 148.
Litchfield, derivation of name, i;
early settlement described, 19;
from Chestnut Hill, illus. from
Barber's "Collections" (1836), 25;
map of (1720), i.
Litchfield Academy (3rd. Pierce

School building), illus., 113.
"Litchfield and Morris Inscrip-
tions," viii.
"Litchfield Biographies," viii, 212.
"Litchfield Book of Days," viii.
Litchfield Carriage Co., 191-
Litchfield Cemetery Co., 334-

INDEX

Litchfield County formed, 46; its
"Honor Roll of the Revolution,
viii; Mining and Quarrying Co.,
215; Regiment (Civil war), histor-
ies of, viii.
Litchfield Electric Light and Power

Co., 192.
Litchfield Enquirer, aid acknowl-
edged, ix; see also Enquirer.
Litchfield Hills, 3; from Chestnut

Hill (,illus).. 4-
Litchfield Historical Society, see

Historical.
Litchfield Institute, 237.
Litchfield Land Co.. 343- ^

Litchfield Land Improvement Co.,

342.
Litchfield Light Horse, prepared-
ness organization (1916), 247.
Litchfield Rifles, preparedness or-
ganization, 247.
Little, James, survivor of North

Church prison, 77.
Little Plain, 47.
Livingston, Henry W., engaged to

Mary -\nn Wolcott, 150.
Lloyd's Neck, raid upon, by Col.

Tallmadge, 88.
Lodge. Henry Cabot, quoted on New
England secessionists, 107; on
Wolcott family, 141.
Long Island Historical Society.
Memoirs, extracts from James
Morris's narrative, t8i.
Longitude of Litchfield, i.
Loom, rural use of. 54.
Loomis. Elijah, dies in Sugar

House prison. 76.
Loomis, Remembrance, dies on wav
home from Bridewell prison. 77.
Lord, Augustus A., book-binder,

131.
Lord, Daniel, owns pest house, 41.
Lord, Erastus, manufacturer of

leather pocket-books, 131.
Lord, Mr., builds bowling alley, 126.
Lord, Lynde. comes from Lyme
(1753). 96; Ensign, in French war,
48; captain, on subscription com-
mittee for Boston, 70; authorized
as sheriff to commandeer supplies,
87; signs pledge (1789), 158; on
committee "to rouse the people"
(1776), 81; remnants of his C"-
chard on Tallmadge Ave., 171, on
committee to regulate hogs, 173.
Loring, Charles G., description ot

Litchfield Law School, 104.
Loveland, Teed, makes henhouse of

a schoolhouse. 193.
Love's Altar, on Bantam River,

126.
Lyceum, Litchfield, 97-
Lyman, John, in Beebe's company,
74; dies in Sugar House prison 77.
Lyon, Col. Matthew, indented ser.
vant, 154.

McLean. Rev. Allan, pastor Con-
gregational church i875-'82, 195.

McNeil, Alexander, dies in Sugar
House prison, 77.

McNeill, Caf't. Archibald, in French
war, 48; pay roll of his company.

McNeill, Edwin, builds Shepaug
Railroad, 210; reminiscences of,
231; anecdote of, 232; assists to
revive Litchfield Institute, 237.
McNeill, Mrs. Geo. S., aid ac-
knowledged, ix.
McNeill, Mildred, reconstruction aid,

259.
Maghee memorial (library) fund,

272.
Magnash, Indian grantor, 12.
Magraw, Col., commander at Fort

Lee, 76.
Malay in Cornwall Mission school,

i8s.
Man, J., on 1720 map, t.
Mann, Horace, at Litchfield Law

School, 107.
Mansfield. E. D.. "Personal me-
moirs," viii.: quoled, 34, 98, no.
204; account of Col. Tallmadge,
136; describes Wolcott girls, 149.
Mansion House, see Catlin's
Tavern; illus., 96; wood pile at,
(illus)., 97.
Mansumpansh, Indian grantor, 12.
Manufacturers of Litchfield, 128; ex-
odus of from hill towns, 209; in
Bantam, 269.
Map, Litchfield (1720), i.
Marlowe, Julia, presents Red Cross

prize, 246.
Marquesas, Native of, in Cornwall

Mission school, 185.
Marriage in early days, S7-
Marsh, Capt., opposes inoculation,

43-
Marsh, Charles, exhibits camels in

his stable, 124.
Marsh, Ebenezer, early judge (i7S0,
46; Colonel in French war (i7S7).
48; opposes Sons of Liberty, 66;
signs pledge (1789), 158; owns
mills, 133; house, jHus., 48.
Marsh, Frederick A., opens place

on Lake (1829), 127.
Marsh, Tames, first child bom in

Northfield, 186.
Marsh, John, grantee, 12; first man
in Litchfield, 10; on 1720 map, ii.
writes to Gov. Talcott about de-
fence, 20, 21 ; presents memorial
to Assembly, 22: commands
Litchfield company against In-
dians, 25; first town clerk, 38
sketch of, 43; defeated for deputy
82; examines candidates for inn
holder, 82; granted fishing privi
lege 1779, 176.
Marsh, John, 3rd. objected to as
innholder, 82; declares for sub-
mission to Britain (i777). 82.
Marsh, Solomon, on committee to

regulate hogs, 173.
Marsh, Timothy, dies on way home

from Sugar House prison, 76.
Marsh, Rev. Truman (portrait), 59.
Marsh, William T., serves on draft
board, 253; warden, as horseman,
267; (portrait), 341.
Marsh-Buel picnic, 212.

INDEX

Marsh House, Northfield Hill
(ilhis)., 184.

Marsh's Mills (East Mill), 132.

Marshall, Oliver, dies on way home
from Sugar House prison, 77.

Marshepaug Forest Club, 333.

Marvin, Reynold, comes from Lyme,
96; King's attorney, 100;' impop-
ular as Tory, 169.

Marvin, Mrs. Reynold and daughter
Ruth, make bullets from statue
of Geo. III., 80.

Mary FSoyd Tallmadge Chapter,
D. A. R., 322; aid acknowledged,
ix.

Masefield, John, talks on the war,
251-

Mason, Elisha, builds Sabbath Day
house, 30- remembers Garrisons,
26; experiences with Continental
money, 91

Mason, Lieut., chosen constable, 82;
dies in service, 82.

Mason, Capt. George W., plants
elms. 170.

Mason, Jonathan, contributes cart-
ridge-box, 74.

Mason, Jos., on 1720 map, ii.

Mason, Samuel, secretary North-
field Knife Co., 187.

Mason, Thomas, in Sugar House
prison, 77.

Masonic organizations, 318.

Massachusetts, turnpike to, 95.

Mataneage, Indian grantor, 8.

Mather, Cotton, in Sugar house
prison, 77.

Matetucke, granted to Lewis and
Steele, 8.

Mattatuck, location of, 9.

Mattatuck (Naugatuck) river, 11.

Matthews, Mayor of N. Y., priso-
ner of war at Litchfield, 79; es-
cape of, 79; introduces first pleas-
ure carriage (1776), 131.

Mattacks, John, chair-maker, 130.

Mauwehu, Indian sachem, 17.

Maxwell, Mrs. Wm. H., stables
described, 267.

Meadow Street, houses on, 354.

Meatless days, 249.

Medicine Rock, 6.

Meetiiig House St. (now East and
West), IS.

Memorial Day Association, 270, 331.

Memorial Monument unveiled, 261.

Memorial trees, 170.

Mendenhall, Rev. H. G., makes
prayer of dedication at unveil-
ing of Memorial Monument, 261.

Mendenhall house; trees planted by
G. H. Hollister, 170.

Men's Forum, 328.

Merchants of Litchfield, 128.

Mercury, The, newspaper (i840-'42),
139-

Merriman, Reuben, silversmith,
119; goldsmith, 134.

Merriman, Mrs. Durand, letter to,
from son in France, 254.

Messenger, N., on 1720 map, i.

Methodist Church, 199; (i7/ms)., 200;
at Bantam, 193; at Milton (re-
moved), 189; clergymen, list of,
295; societies, 338.

Mica Schist, 3.

Middle Street (now Gallows Lane),

IS, 40.
Migration from Litchfield, 62.
Milestone at Elm Ridge, 93.
Military depot. Revolutionary, near

Spring Hill, 79.
Military workshop on East St., 79.
Militia, improvement of, 69; drills,

125-

Milk distribution, F. R. Starr, pio-
neer in, 264.

Mill erected (1722), 44.

Mills, Father, of Torringford, ser-
mon quoted, 84.

Mills, Samuel J. Jr., founds Mis-
sion school, 184; graduate of
Morris Academy, 181.

Mills in Bantam, 191; in Milton,
190.

Milton boundary, 45; carriage fac-
tory at, 130; centenarians in, 20s;
Congregational clergymen in, 293;
Episcopal clergymen in, 294;
puddling furnace in, 129; sketch
of, 189; David Welch house in
iillus)., 185.

Miner, Fhineas, lawyer, 214.

Miner, Thomas concerned in pur-
chase of Litchfield, 10.

Mining craze (1848), 214.

Ministers, early, 59.

Minister's lot, on map 1720, ii.

Minor, John, Woodbury magistrate,
12.

Minor, Joseph, witnesses deed, 13.

Miscellany, The, newspaper, (1821-
'22), 138.

Missionary Societies, 336; in Litch-
field, 184.

Mitchell, John, witnesses deed, 13,

Mitchell, Josephine, Bantam teach-
er, 193.

Mitchell, N., on 1720 map, i.

Mohawks, raids of, 16.

Monitor, Weekly, newspaper (1784-
1807), 138; quoted, 18, 3s; warns
against destroying trees, 168.

Montgomery, Gen., his Canadian ex-
pedition, 71.

Montgomery, John, inventor of
"aerial phaeton," 12s.

Monuments to heroes of civil war,
229.

Moravians in Connecticut, 191.

Morgan, Corporal Frank A., first
Litchfield man to enlist in Great
War, 2S3; killed in battle, 254.

Morgan's "Connecticut," quoted 33.

Morgan-Weir Post, American Le-
gion, 323; {portrait group), 261.

Morris township, i; set off as
town, 45; comprised in Indian
"Bantam," 11; formerly South
Farms, 178; Bantam Lj^ke tour-
ist region located in, 193; ceme-
tery, 178; see also South Farms.

Morris Herald, viii., quoted, 179.

"Morris Inscriptions," viii.

Morris, Fred'k K., geological con-
tributor, ix.

INDEX

Morris. James, his "Statistical Ac-
count," vii., 210; overseer of pest
houses, 42; founds first Hbrar>,
1785, i8o; narrative of, 181; sup-
porter of missions, 183; quoted,
18; account of Oliver Wolcott,
142. J

Morris, James, Jr., ensign m Brad-
ley's company, 78.

Morris, Richard and Robert, leave
British army for Continental, 90.

Morris Academy, 180.

Morristown, supply train for, passes
through Litchfield, 88.

Morse, Corp. Apollos C, killed at
Cold Harbor, 224.

Morse, C. E-, and Co., pubhsh The
Mercury, 139- ,, , ,.

Morse. Rev. Joseph L., Methodist
Minister, 200.

Moss, Lieut. Isaac, in French war,

48.

Moss, Sarah, runaway servant, 155.

Mount Prospect, 4-

Mount Tom, geology of, 3, 4; boun-
dary of Litchfield, 12; Indian res-
ervation, 13; Indian fires on, 20;
reserved for hunting, 18; gift of
Mrs. G. A. Senfl to State as a
park, 189.

Mungcr, Judge Robert W., ad-
dress at rally for Third Liberty
Loan campaign, 249.

Munroe, Prof. Henry S., "Trees of
Litchfield," ix, 169; designs Mt.
Tom cower, 189; improves water
plant, 342.

Munroe. Robt. K., with engineers

at Coblenz, 252.
Murray. Hezekiah, scruples abort
his skill, 160.

Nails made in Bantam, 129.
Naugatuck Railroad, opening of,

209.
Needle and Bobbin Club, 272, 3^1-
Negroes in Litchfield, 233.
Nevins, Sam, dyer, 132.
New Bantam (now Goshen), 45, iQo.
New England Exploring and Min-
ing Co., 21=;. .. J u
New Haven m 1773. described by
Oliver Wolcott, Jr., 144; turnpike
and stage line to, 9S.
New Milford Indians, 16; district

courts at, 46; turnpike, 94.
New York, capture of, benefits

Litchfield, 93.
Newbree, John, cares for Acadian

refugees, 201.
Newspaper, first {1784), 47
Newspapers in Litchfield, list of,

137- . _

Nichols, Rev. James, rector of St.

Michael's in the Revolution, 197;

addresses legislature on toleration,

166.
Nickel ores on Prospect Mt., 215

Mining and Smelting Co., 216.
Nineteenth Volunteers (Civil war),

219.
Nobles, Capt. Stephen, commands

Milford company, 25.
Non -importation agreement, 69.
Norkgnotonckquy, Indian grantor,

North Church prison, 77.

North Street, 15 (.iUus)., 14; hne of,
39; houses on, 344.

North (now Prospect) Street, iS-

Northfield boundary, 45; Boy Scouts
in, 324; civil war monument, 229;
Congregational clergymen in. 293;
Episcopal clergymen of, 294; IUus.
of Marsh House, 184; industries
of, 134; Parish Paper, viii.; Pa-
trons of Husbandry in, 320; post-
masters of, 309; sketch of, 185.

Northfield Knife Co., 187.

Northfield Manufacturing Co.,
bought out by Knife Co., 1858,
188.

Northfield Women's Literary Club,
list of officers, 327.

Norton, Ambrose, carriage-maker,
130.

Norton, William, quoted, 34; sleigh-
ing record, 208.

Norwalk, daily stage line to, 95.

Noyes, William Curtis, plants trees,

170-

Noyes, Mrs. William Curtis, de-
scription of "Golden Age" Litch-
field, 99; presents colors to county
regiment, 221; stables described,
267; memorial library, 271.

Noyes, Memorial Building, 327.

Nurses in Great War, 239-

Oak near Elton house, primeval
tree, 176; planted by Admiral
Colvocoresses, 274; ilhis., 24; in
centre green, 39.
Obookiah, Henry, Hawaiian edu-
cated as Missionary, 184; Life of,
185.
O'Connor, Lieut. Timothy, killed

in action, 256.
Ohio, Litchfield local r^ames in. 191.
Ogden, Eliza A., describes general
training day, 125.

Oil mills in Litchfield. I33-

"Old Connecticut," Lincoln's nick-
name for John H. Hubbard. 225.

"Old order changes" (Chap, xx.),
204.

Old Road, houses on. 349.

Old West Church (now S^. Paul's,
Bantam), 198.

Olmsted. David, dies in Sugar
House prison, 77.

Ordre de la Couronnc of Belgium,
awarded to Lieut. Busk, 257.

O'Reilly, Bishop (R. C.) visits
Litchfield, 1851, 201.

Ores, occurrence of. 4.

Organ, first in town, 195-

Organizations, lists of, 318.

O'Rourke, James, in war with
Spain, 273.

Orton, Sam'l., on 1720 map, ii.

Osborn, Asa, in Beebe's company,

74-
Osborn,, E- Goodwin, plants elms,

170.

Osborn, Capt. John delegate to con-
vention. 69; contributes gun, 74.

Osborn, Selleck, editor of The
Witness. 138, 164; horsewhipped in
Col. Tallmadge's Store, 164; jailed
for libel, 164.

INDEX

Oxford Class, Methodist Church,

338-
Page, Dr. Charles I., medical officer

in Great War, 2S?.
Page, Henry I,., aviator, 252.
Palmer, Rev. Solomon, first rector

of St. Michael's, 197.
Paper-chsses, z68.
Paper mill in Bantam, 133.
Papier-mache factory in Litchfield,

133-
Parent-Teachers' Association, 330.
Parker, Theodore, quoted, 34.
Park St. Church, Boston, copied in

third building of Cong. Church,

Litchfield, 195.
Parks of Litchfield, 168; improve-
ment of (i82o-'35), 171; origin of,

175-
Parks, developed by Bushnell and

Turner, both of Litchfield, 188.
Parks, Josiah, innkeeper, 96.
Parks' Hotel, stage terminus, 95.
Parmelee, Rev. David Lewis, pastor

in South Farms, 180; address at

church centennial, 212.
Parmalee, Willard H., killed at

Cold Harbor, 224.
Parmely, John, dies in North Church

prison, 77.
Parmely, Solomon, in Sugar House

prison, 77.
Pasturage in cemeteries, 178, 186. _
Patent granted to settlers, 15; of

Connecticut, old, 7; of the Town

of Litchfield, 358.
Patrons of Husbandry, 320.
Patterson, Mary, mother of Sarah

Pierce, no.
Patterson, Miss, Oliver Wolcott,

Jr's schoolmistress, 144.
Patterson, William, in Beebe's

company, 74.
Paul, "Al." locomotive fireman, 233.
Payne, Chas. T., "Litchfield and

Morris Inscriptions," viii., 201 ;

sketch by, 58; quoted on Milton

cemetery, 189.
Peat, J., on 1720 map, i.
Peck, Edward, jailer, 235.
Peck, John, early settler, 15.
Peck, Levi, wounded at Wilton, 84.
Peck, Mary, Pierce school pupil, 119;

sketches in Historical Society,

126.
Peck, Mrs., leave? church, 30.
Peck, Paul, on 1720 map, ii ; expert

trapper, 84, 85; killed at Wilton,

84.
Peck, Timothy, goldsmith, 134; and

Virgil, dealers in wool, 132.
Pegmatite, 3.
Pequot War, 7.
Perkins, J. Deming, reminiscences

of, 231; portrait, 232; promoter of

Shepaug Railroad, 210; stables de-
scribed, 265; gift of Fire House,

271; death of, 274.
Perkins, Louis, dyer, 132.
Perry, William Stevens, (afterward

Bishop of Iowa) rector of St.

Michael's, 236.
Pest Houses, 41 ; rules governing,

42.

Petersburg, Litchfield regiment at,
224.

Pethuzso, Indian grantor, 9.

Phelps assembly room, balls in
121.

Phelps, Charles Shepherd, author of
"Rural Life in Litchfield Co.,"
174-

Phelps, Capt. Edward, builds Sab-
bath Day house, 30; on committee
to lay out East cemetery, 202.

Phelps House, built 1782, 96.

Phelps Tavern, built 1787, 96.

Phoenix Branch Bank (i8iS-'64), 341;
charter opposed, 165.

Piano factory, site of, 134.

Pickerel, Cranberry Pond stocked
with, 176.

Picnic, Fourth of July (1918), 253;
Buel-Marsh, 212.

Pier, T., on 1720 map, i.

Pierce, John, (i) Litchfield potter,
no; (2) Sarah Pierce's brother,
friend of Washington, in.

Pierce maples. North St., 170.

Pierce, Mary, lost in bushes, 39;
buys Pierce school property, 114;
plans Center Park, 171.

Pierce, Sarah, school for girls, 34,
no; biog. sketch, no; descriljed
by G. H. HoUister, 115; Portrait,
112.

Pierce houses, fate of, 112.

Pierpont, John, sketch of, 183; grad-
uate of Morris Academy, i8i; pu-
pil of Rev. Jos. E. Camp, 187.

Pikosky, Edward, drills Litchfield
Rifles, 247.

Pillar Dollars, exported to China,
137-

Pitch, mines in the, 214.

Pitkin, Elizabeth, wife of John
Marsh, n.

Pitkin, Re7'. Timothy preaches
execution sermon, 19.

Plain, marked by present hilltops,
S. »

Piatt, Orville H., pupil of Catlin's
Northfield school. 187.

Plattsburg, reserve camps, Litchfield
at, 247.

Playhouse (old club house), 272.

Plays, given by Yale students, 123;
written by Miss Pierce, 123.

Plumb, Ebenezer, Jr., cabinet maker,
130.

Plumb, Seth F., killed at Fort
Harrison, Va., 228.

Plumb, William S., burgess, 260.

Plumb, Mrs. William S., in food-
conservation work, 248.

Plumb Post, G. A. R., record book,
viii.

Plumbs, the, plant elms, 170.

Plymouth Company, 7.

Plymouth, possible site of Matta-
tuck, 9; turnpike to, 95.

"Poganuc People," Litchfield novel,
viii.

Police Gazette, its notice of Dr.
Gates's mistake, 236.

PoHtics, early, 162.

Polo in Litchfield, 267.

Pomperaug river, Indian camp, 16.

INDEX

"Pond Lily," pleasure boat on Ban-
tam Lake (1795). 127.

Poni, Indian grantor, 12.

Pool, equestrian show (1787), 124.

Pootatuck tribe, 16.

Population, charges in, 205.

Post Office, government, opened, 94.

Post, private, advertised, 94.

Postmasters, list of, 309.

Potatuck Plantation, 12.

Potter. Corp. Geo. Wilson, killed at
Cold Harbor, 224.

Poughkeepsie, daily stage line to,
95-

Poughquag Ouartztte, 3.

Poundj use of, for strays, 174.

Powell, Mary, wife of John Davies
Jr., 197-

Power House at Bantam. 342.

Powers, Rev. Grant, discourse on
Goshen, 45; quoted, 44.

Pratt, Clarissa, as horsewoman, 267.

Preface, vii.

Prisons, suffering in British, 78.

Prevost, Theodosia, wife of Aaron
Burr, loi.

Probate, judges of, list, 301.

Proprietors' meetings, 27.

Proprietors, original, list of, 310.

Prosecuting attorneys, list, 305.

Prospect Mountain, mines on, 21;.

Prospect Street, 15; houses on, 346.

Pym, John, 7.

Ouartztte, near Bantam Lake, 3.

Quebec campaign, rigors of, 72.

Querrimus, Indian grantor. 8.

Quincy, Josiah, letter to Oliver Wol-
cott, Jr., 147.

Quincv, Mary P., "Trees of Litch-
field." ix., 169; quoted, 170; gives
silver trowel for Colvocoresses
oak, 274; corner stone of her
house, 274.

Quiump, Indian grantor, 12.

RadcHflFe, Jerry, supt. of carding-
mill, T32.

Railroads, opening of. 209.

Rams, regulated by vote (1791), 173.

Randolph. John, anecdote of, 101.

Rattlesnakes, bounties for, 175.

Reading room (1862). 271.

Records of town, earliest. 27.

Red Cross, Litchfield Chapter oldest
organization in state, 246, 324;
appeal of 1914, 245; Drive of 1917,
250; in Welcome Home pro-
cession, 261; put on war basis,
247.

Reeve, Aaron Burr, at Litchfield
Law School, 107.

Reeve, Tapping, comes from L. L,
ico; l:iw-schooI lecturer, 98;
anecdote told by Catherine
Beecher, 109; on committee "to
rouse the people" (1776), 81;
serves as officer in emergency, 81;
portrait by George Catlin, 100;
entertains Burr, 71 ; signs pledge
(1789), 158; defends fugitive slaves,
153; supporter of missions, 185.
Reeve House (illiis)., 108.
Religion tax, 162.
Repair fund for library, 272.

Republican, The, newspaper, 1.,

i8i9-'2o; ir., i846-'56, 138. 139.
"Residents of Litchfield," viii.
Revival, first, 22-

Revolution, Litchfield in (chapter),
65; Episcopal Church in, 197;
honor roll of, 2S3.
Richards, Anna W., contributor for
Cong, church, ix.; compiles Con-
gregational scrap book, 195.
Richards, Archibald M., in Y. M. C-

A. service, 259.
Richards. Rev. George, pastor Con-
gregational church i86o-'65. 195;
letter to, from Mrs. Luman Wad-
hams, 226.
Richards, Guy H., in ambulance ser-
vice, 258.
Richards, Harriet M., chairman
sub-committee on c?nning, 248;
founds nursing association, 272.
Richards, Rev. James, Litchfield

teacher, 236.
Richards, William, of KUzabethtown
N. J., commands military post at
Litchfield, 79-
Ride-and-tie method of transpor-
tation, 281.
Rifle Club, 1016, 247.
Riot in Hertford. 8.
Ripley, Mr. and Mrs. Louis, Red

Cross fetes. 245. 246.
Roads, condition in 1751. 47; in

Litchfield village, 240.
Roberg, Bernard M., Bantam in-
structor, 193.
Robert P. Jeflfries post, American

Legion, 261.
Rockhill, William W., evergreen on
grave sent bv Ytian Shi Ki, 171-
Rockhill, Mrs. W. W , owne-- of The
Glebe, 32; organizes Red Cross
fete, 245.
Rocks of Litchfield, 2.
Rockwell, Samuel, grantee. 12.
Rogers. W. S., obtains incorporation
of Bantam, T02; directs rally for
Third Liberty Loan, 24q; portrait,
.342.
Roman Catholic church. 200: in-
terior of St. Anthony's, (illn.'!).,
201; cemetery. 202: organizations,
321; priests, list of, 29/; See also
St. Anthony's.
Root, Samuel, on 1720 map. ii; first

fence-viewer. 280.
Rosbach, W. G., aoole tree only
survivor of Wolcott orchard, 171.
Rose, Josenh, siiins so'diers' petition

to be disbanded, 25.
Rowe, Daniel, objected to. as inn-

holder, 82.
Rowe, Sam, son of Solomon, 233;
Rowe, Solomon, sexton of St.

M'chael's, 233.
"Roval Americans" enlisted in

Litchfield, 8s.
Royal Arch Masons, 319.
Rum, consumption of, 157.
Russell, John, brick-maker, 134.
Russell, William, stocking-weaver,

advertises, 128.
Russell Street, houses on, 331.
Ruth, play by Miss Pierce, 123.

INDEX

Ryan, John, mass said in his house,

1853, 20I-

Ryan, Patrick, killed at Cold Har-
bor, 224.

Ryan, Thos. F., aid acknowledged,
ix. ; conducts savings-stamps cam-
paign, 251; offers Red Cross office,
251 ; portrait, 309.

Sabbath Day houses, 30.

St. Anthony's Church, 269; {illus).,

201; priests of, 296; service flag

in armistice parade, 260.
St. Anthony's Council, K. of C, 321.
»t. Anthony' Total Abstinence and

Benevolent Society, 321.
St. Michael's Church, history. 196;

(illus)., 198; Rectory, iilhs)., 49;

stoned by troops, 163; closed

1 777 -'80, during Revolution, 197;

centenhial (1845), 212; welcomes

Methodist itinerant, 199; steeple

blown down, 198; (illus)., 199;

armistice celebration in, 259;

clergymen of, 293; location of,

347-
St. Michael's Guild, 339.
St. Paul's Church, Bantam, 193, 19S;

clergymen of, 294; societies, 340.
St. Paul's Lodge, occupies old

Methodist church, 200; list of

past masters, 318.
Saltonstall, Sir Richard, 7.
Sanctum Club, 268, 332; g^ves room

for Red Cross work, 246; picnic

(portrait group), 335.
Sanford, David C., lawyer, 214.
Sanford, E., on 1720 map, ii.
Sanford, Col. Geo. B., owner of

Oliver Wolcott house, 147.
Sanford, Joseph, in Beebe's com-
pany, 74.
Sanford, R. Dunscomb, an orga-
nizer of Litchfield Rifles, 247.
Savings Society, Litchfield, 341.
Saunders, Capt. Henry H., musters

in Home Guards (1917), 247.
Sawmill, Humaston's, in Northfield,

186.
Sawmills in Milton, 190.
Saxton, Jehiel, post-rider, 47.
Say and Seal, Viscount, 7.
Scalps, bounties offered for, 22.
Scatacooks, Indian tribe, 16.
Schistose rocks, 3.
School, first in Northfield, 187; Cat-

lin'?, 187.
School fund, service of, 213.
School House, first, location, 15, 97;

first in South Farms, 178.
School lot, on 1720 map, ii.
Schools in Bantam, 193; in Litchfield,

236, 270; in Milton, 190; of early

days, 57.
Scientific Society, work of, 213, 272;

lecture on mines, 214.
Scott, Nellie M., Bantam welfare

work, 193; raises honor flag, 250;

(portrait), 343.
Sea, ancient, 2.
Seabury, Bishop, ordains Rev. Ash-

bel Baldwin, 198. „
Seating list at Meeting House, 31.
Secession, early discussed in New

England, 107.

Second Heavy Artillery (Civil war),
219.

Secretary of Treasury, 'Oliver Wol-
cott, J r., 146.

Sedgw^ick, Albert, mines for copper,
215.

Sedgwick, Samuel, on 1720 map, i.

Selectmen, list of, 306; 1920 (portrait
group), 307.

Senators from Litchfield, 297.

Senff, Mrs. G. A., gives park on
Mt. Tom, 189.

Sentinel, The, newspaper (i865-*7S),
139. 235.

Sepunkum, Indian grantor, 12.

Serenades (1822), 119.

Service flags, display of, 251.

Seth F. Plumb Post, G. A. R., 322.

Settlement of Litchfield, 7.

Settlers, first, list of, 310.

Seymour, Edward W., lawyer, 238;
pupil of Catlin's Northfield school,
187; portrait, 238.

Seymour, Mrs. Edward, 274; por-
trait, 238.

Seymour, Ensign, 10.

Seymour, Morris W. (portrait), 274;
quoted, 107; golden wedding ot,
274.

Seymour, Capt. (afterward Major)
Moses, portrait, 78; chosen inn-
holder, 82; custodian of Mayor
Matthews of N. Y., 79; in Shel-
don's Horse, 86; his account of
dmner to Burgoyne after sur-
render, 87; on school committee,
97; commands Militia company
of infantry, 125; only prominc.at
Democrat, 162; signs pledge (1789),
158.

Seymour, (Moses) House (illus).,
79.

Seymour, Origen Storrs, sketch of
214; portrait, 214; at Litchfield
Law School, 107; lecturer at law
school, 108; his opinion of Wol-
cott lawsuit, 137; plants elms, 170;
historical address at Marsh-Buel
picnic (1846), 212; reminiscences
of, 231 ; golden wedding of, 274.

Seymour, Samuel, house (illus)., 49.

Seymour, Rev. Dr. Storrs O., rector
of St. Michael's, sketch of, 198;
portrait, viii.; pupil of Catlin's
Northfield school, 187; golden
wedding of, 274.

Seymour, Thomas, grantee, 12; sent
to treat with Indians, 12; com-
mittee of town of Hartford, 10;
charges for perambulating north
line of Litchfield, 10; on 1720 map,
i. ; on forfeiture committee, 24.

Seymour House (illus)., 275.

Shakespeare; rendered by strolling
actors, 123.

Shakespeare Club, 328.

Shearaway, Sybil, Acadian refugee,
201.

Sheep in Litchfield (181 1), 174.

Sheldon, Charlotte and Lucy, pupils
of Pierce school, 119.

INDEX

Sheldon, Dr. Daniel, described by
Henry Ward Beecher, 117; by E.
D. Mansfield, 117; signs pledge
(1789), 158; a donor of first organ,
195; portrait, 123.
Sheldon, Daniel, Jr., at Law School,

107; diplomatist, 108.
Sheldon, Col. E^isha, judge -legisla-
tor, 6s; commands Sheldon's
Horse, 86; builds house, 96; asso-
ciate judge, 96.
Sheldon, Lucy, miniature by Anson

Dickinson, 116.
Sheldon, Samuel, tavern-keeper, 89,

96; owns cotton mill, 133.
Sheldon's Horse, passes through
Litchfield, 85; ordered to Peek-
skill, 87.
Sheldon's tavern, lodges Washing-
ton, 89; second oldest house, 96;
illus., 109.
Shenandoah Valley, Litchfield reg't.

in, 224.
Shepang, garrison at, 22.
Shepaug river, bouudarj- of Litch-
field, 12.
Shepaug Valley Railroad, 210, 270;

anecdotes of, 232.
Sheriffs, list of, 305.
Sherman, Roger, rtins Litchfield

line, 45.
Sherry, Howard C, dies at Camp

Johnston, 253.
Shethar, John, slave-dealer, 151.
Shethar, Samuel, goldsmith, 134.
Shumway, Alexander B., foreman
of Tlie Enquirer 1859-1912; pub-
lisher, 1865, 139, 140.
Sign Post elm, 171; Villus)., 271.
Signatures of Indians to deeds, 13;

discussed, 17.
Silk-worms, raised at Elm Ridge,
.. '34-
Silver eagles. Federalist badges,

made in Litchfield, 134.
Skating, 208.

Slavery in Litchfield (Chapter), 151.
Slitting mill in Bantam, 129.
Small pox, epidemic of 1777, 82; m-

oculation for, 41.
Smith, Lieut. Stephen, in French

96.
Smith, Cornelia B., on history com.,
vii; aid acknowledged, ix; por-
trait, 304.
Smith, Daniel, in Sugar House pris-
on, dies in New York, 77.
Smith, Dibble, makes pulpit into

matches, 179.
Smith, Elisha, joins British, 84.
Smith, Ethel M., aid acknowledged,
viii.; co-author of appendix, 277.
Smith, John, lieut. in Beebe's com-

piny, 75.
Smith, Rev. John, of Albany, first

R. C. priest in Litchfield, 201.
Smith, Gov. John Cotton, defeated
by Oliver Wolcott, Jr., 166; on
storm of 1779, 207.
Smith, Jonathan, Jr., joins British,

84.
Smith, Joseph L., said to have
treated pastors rudely at Dem-
ocratic festival, 165.

Smith, Lieut. Joshua, m French
war, 48; in Beebe's company, 74.

Smith, Lieut. Josiah, in French war,
48.

Smith. Junius, student at Litch-
field Law School, 106.

Smith, Gen. Kirby, grandson of
Ephraim Kirby, 165.

Smith, Lyman Sr., plants Elm
Ridge elms, 170.

Smith, Lyman, Jr., plants elms, 170;
killed at Cold Harbor, 224.

Smith, Nathaniel, on 1720 map, ii;
on committee to hire first pastor,
27-

Smith, Phineas, nailor in Bantam,
129.

Smith, Dr. Reuben, contributes
gun, 74; on subscription com-
mittee for blockaded Boston, 70;
inoculates Wolcott children, 42;
letter from, 43; in Gen. Wooster's
army, 82; letter to Oliver Wolcott
(1777). 82; on committee to ex-
amine surgeons, 81.

Smith, Lieut. Stephen, in French
war, 48.

Smith Stephen S., establishes The
County Post, 1.19.

Smith, Senator Truman, 214.

Smoke Club org.inized (1917). 253:
letter to from James Weir, 255.

Snakes, 340 caught (1787), 176-

Snowdrift in 1888 (illus)., 206.

Snowdrifts, 239.

Snow -shoeing, 268.

Societa Italiana di Mutuo
Socorso, 322.

Society in early days, 55.

Soldiers' monuments, 269.

"Sons of Liberty" in Litchfield, 66.

Sothem, Edward H., plans rally for
Second Liberty Loan campaign,
249.

Sothern, Mrs. E. H., recites at Wel-
come Home celebration, 261.

South-East Farms, now Northfield,
186.

South Farms (now Morris), 178; its
boundary, 45; building of meet-
ing house at, 157; Congregational
clergymen in, 293.
South Griswold (now Lake) Street,

IS-

South Mill, John Marsh s camp, 11.

South Plain, 6; Indian relics found
on, 17.

South Street, 15; line of, 39; illus.,
15; in ice storm (illus)., 207;
houses on, 346.

Southwick, pickerel from, in Cran-
berry Pond, 176.

Spanish-American War, Red Cross
work in, 246.

Snellio? matches, 267.

Spencer, Joseph, at Fort Washing-
ton, 77.

Spencer Street, houses on, 352.

Spring Hill, see Buel Sanitarium.

Stables in 1891, list of, 263.

Stage coaches, 95.

Stage-routes, passing of, 209.

Stamp Act denounced. 66; declared
unconstitutional, 68.

Standley, John, finds lead, 8.

INDEX

Stanley, Frederick, in Beebe's com-
pany, 74.

Stanley, Capt. Nathaniel, member of
forfeiture committee, 24.

Stanley, Timothy, on 1720 map, i;
dies on prison ship, 76.

Stanley, Whiting, contribtites gun,

Stanton, William, post rider, 47; on
subscription committee for

blockaded Boston. 70.

Stanton, Capt., of Sheldon's Horse,
86.

Starr, F. Ratchford, buys Echo
Farm, 264.

State Council of Defense, local com-
mittee, 248.

State Park Commission, 189.

State's attorneys, list, 306.

States, trees symbolical of, i6g.

"Statistical Account," book by
James Morris, 180.

Staurolite, occurrence of, 4.

Steamboat to New York. 95.

Steele, Samuel, granted land, 8.

Stein, Norman, killed in action, 256.

Stevens' "Memorials of Methodism"
quoted, igg.

Stillson, Amos H., killed at Cold
Harbor, 224.

Stipend of minister, 27.

Stoddard, Aaron, diei in North
Church prison, 77.

Stoddard. Albert, edits The
Republican, 139.

Stoddard, Briant, in Beebe's com-
pany, 74.

Stoddard, David, chosen innholder,
82; chosen constable, 82.

Stoddard, J., on 1720 map, t.

Stoddard, James, first person
• buried in Morris Cemetery, 178.

Stoddard, Obed, in Beebe's com-
pany, 74; appraiser, 74.

Stone, Capt., commands Militia in-
fantry company, 125.

Stone, Ira, dies in service, 75.

Stone, Josiah, joins British, 84.

Stone, Noah, 30.

Storms, noteworthy, 207.

Stoughton, Elizabeth, wife of Oliver
Wolcott, Jr.

Stove, first, in church, 29.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, quoted, 20;
anecdote of, 34; on John P.
Brace, 114; her "Poganuc People,"
viii.

Straits' Turnpike. 95.

Strays in Litchfield streets, 239.

Streets, layout of, 39.

Strong and Co., carding mill, 132.

Strong, Eleazer, on 1720 map, i;
first fence-viewer, 38.

Strong, Idea, daughter of Tedediah,
158.

Strong, Jedediah, sketch of, 158;
delegate to convention, 69; made
commissary, 72; contributes three
guns, 74; elected deputy, 82;
erects milestone at Elm Ridge,
93; Noah Webster studies with,
loi ; raises silkworms, 134; signs
pledge (1789), 158.
Strong, Supply, on 1720 map, i;
dies at 90, 43.

Strong, Susannah, sues for divorce,

158.
Stuart, Jared, dies in Sugar House

prison, 77.
Suckqunnokqueen, Indian grantor,

12.
Sugar House prison, 77.
Sullivan, Mr., plays flute, 119.
Sumers, S., on 1720 map, ii.
Sun, The, newspaper (i83S-'39), 138.
Sunday in Litchfield (1773), 145.
Swamp, Litchfield hill a, 39.
Sweeney, Rev. Timothy M., builds

St. Anthony's church, 201.
Sweet, Lynian E., takes three pris-
oners at Hatcher's Run, 228.
Swine, regulation of, 173.
Sycamore trees, symbolizing the

States, 169.
Symington, Rev. Charles, pastor

Congregational Church, i883-'94,

195-

Tablet on memorial monument, 261.

Tahiti, native of, in Cornwall mis-
sion school, 185.

Talcott, Gov. Joseph, letter from
John Marsh, 20; memo, by, 22.

Tallmadge Ave., remnants of Lyr.de
Lord's orchard, 171; houses on,
346.

Tallmadge. Benjamin (Major and
Colonel), "Memoirs," viii: de-
scription of, by Henrv Ward
Beecher, 13s; by Col L- W. V/cs-
sels, 136; by E. D. Mansfield,
136; portraits of Col. and Mrs.
by Ralph Earle, 86, 87; commands
Sheldon's Horse, 85; description
of, 86; commands detachment,
88; attacks Fort George, 89; cap-
tures John Andre, 89; on school
committee, 97; his store on North
St., 130; his books, 132; signs
pledge, (1789), 158; lampooned 11.
The Witness. 164; first president
Phoenix branch bank, 166; plants
elms, 170; supporter of missions,
185; friend of Lyman Beecher, 37.

Tallmadge, Frederick A,, 119-

Tallmadge, Mary Floyd, wife of
Edward W. Seymour {portrait).
239-

Tallmadge House, (illiis)., 2;
HoUister's History of Connecti-
cut writtten there, 170.

Tallmadge, John, postmaster at
Warren, partner of his brother
Benjamin, 13C.

Tanning in Litchfield, 131.

Taylor, Benjamin, in Beebe's com-
pany, 74.

Taylor, Joel, dies in North Church
prison, 77; money delivered to his
mother, 75.

Taylor, Moses, in Beebe's company,
74-

Taxcronuck, Indian grantor, 9.

Telegraph and Telephone, 270.

Telegraph, duplex, invented by J.
P. Humiston of Northfield. 188.

Temperance Association of 1789, 157.

INDEX

Temperance movements in Litch-
field, 156; Beecher's sermons on,
160; crusade carried on by John
Fierpont, 183.
Tennis in Litchfield, 267.
Thayer, Cornelius, brazier, 128.
Theatricals, barred before Revo-
lution, 122.
Thompson, Esther H., on history
com., vii; reminiscences acknowl-
edged, ix; on the cause of the
Beecher temperance sermons, 160;
paper on Pierce scholars quoted,
116; quoted, 31, 36, iS7-
Thompson, Isaac, goldsmith, i3'',.
Thompson, William H., a donor

of first organ, 195.
Thurston, Amy R., residence, 40;
in food -conservation work, 248;
canteen worker in France, 259.
Ticonderoga captured, 71-
Times, London, praises Oliver Wol-
cott, Jr's, inaugural address as
governor, 166.
Toboggan Club, 26S.
Toleration, religious, party in favor
of, 147; step toward, 196; Act
providing for, 166.
"Tom," meaning of, in place names,

'8- . .A

Tonhocks, Indian witness to deed,

13.
Torrington, turnpike to, 95; Wolcott

mills at, 146; birthplace of John

Brown, 183.
Torrington, see also Wolcottville.
Torrington Road, houses on, 356.
Tourist resort. Bantam Lake as a,

J93-
Toweecume, Indian grantor, 12.
Tower on Mt. Tom, 189.
Towns, importance of as units in

Revolution, 82.
"Town and gown" feuds at Pierce

school, 116.
Town Clerks, list, 308.
Town-meeting, first, 38; records of,

27.
Town (now North) Street, is.
Town Hill (now South) Street, i5-
Towne, Henry R., donor of new

St. Michael's church, 198.
Tracy, Uriah, moderator of meeting,
41; buys Sheldon House, 96; on
school committee, 97; U. S. sena-
tor, loi; repartee of, loi; mot
about Mrs. Wolcott, 148; said
to have planned disunion, 107;
signs pledge, (1789). 158
Trap for wolves (1744). 176- ..
Treadway, Thos., on 1720 map, 11.
Treasurers of the County (lists), 305:

of the town, 309.
Tree map of the borough, 169.
Trees and Parks (C:iiapter xvii).

168.
"Trees of Litchfield," ix.
Trees of Litchfield, H. W. Beecher
on. 172; paper on by Mary Perkins
Ouincy cited, 169; by Prof. H. S.
Munroe (1919). '69-
Tribune Fresh Air Fund, 190.
Trident, The, ship of China Trading

Co., 137-
Trinity church, Milton, clergymen
of, 294.

Trinity Church, Northfield, conse-
crated 1836, 186; clergy m«n of,
294.

Triumphal Arch on East St. at re-
turn of regiment, 1865, (illus).,
22s.

Troops, billeting of, 23.

Trowbridge, Deacon, 30.

Trowbridge, E. G., rides 300 miles
on cycle, 267.

Trowbridge, Isaac, post -rider, 94.

Trowbridge, Thomas, shoemaker,

131-
Trumbull, Allan, aviator, 252.
Trumbull, Col., sketch of Benjamin

Tallmadge, 86.
TrumbuU-Vanderpoel Electric Manu-
facturing Co., 19I1 343-
Tunxis tribe, 8.
Turkeys to be impounded, 174;

wild, in Litchfield, 175.
Turkington, Dr Chas. H., medical

officer in Great War, 253-
Turkington, Frank H., heads arm-

istice parade, ^o; (portrait), 305.
Turner, Albert M., contributor for

Northfield, ix., 188; quoted, 16.
Turner, Jacob, his tavern a mail

station (1800), 187; becomes a

school (184s), 187- „ . ^ , .

Turner, Titus, settler of Northfield,

186.
Turner and Woodruff, mail left at

their store in Northfield, 187.
Turnpikes and coaches, era of, 94-
Tuscania torpedoed, 257.
Two Cousins; play by Sarah Pierce.

Tyler, Daniel P., his "Statistics of
Connecticut Industries" (1845).
134-

Umbrella, the first (1772). i3i-.
Underwood house, on site of Pierce

house, 112; maples near, 170.
United States Hotel, name of

Phelps Tavern in the 6o's, 121;

(illus)., 122.
United War Work Campaign, 252.
University Club, Litchfield County,

ix. ; publications, viii., 219.
"Unwilling Maid" Litchfield nove'.

viii.
U. S. officials from Litchfield, 297.

Vaill, Dudley L., author of "The
County Regiment" (1908), vni.,
219.
Vaill, Capt. Joseph, builds Wolf

Pit, 176.
Vaill, Samuel, dies on prison ship

"Grosvenor," 77.
Vaill House, Brush Hill, 189.
Vaill, Theodore F., historian of

County Regiment (1868), viii., 219.
Vaills, The, plant elms, 170.
Valleys cut, 5- ,,, x l

Vanderpoel. Emily N., (Mrs. John

A.) "Chronicles of a Pioneer

School." source of Chap, x., iii.;

viii.; aid acknowledged, ix.;

(portrait), xvi. ; quoted, 38, 9s;

gives law school building, 103;

gives old Lawn Club for Red

Cross work, 246.

INDEX

Vanderpoel, Floyd L. (portrait), 340.

Vanderpoel, John Arent, donor, 326;
gives library building, 271; por-
trait, 270. ^

Van Winkle, Kdgar B., (portrait),
ix.

Van Winkle, Mrs. Edgar B., paper
"A LitchiSeld Diplomat", loS"

Van Winkle, The Misses, stables
described, 267.

Victory conference (1918), 249.

Victory Ixian (1919), 250.

Village Improvement Society, 232;
241, 270; (Company), 329; in
Bantam, 192.

Volcanic formations, 3; activity,,
S-

Volunteers for civil war, 218.

Wadhams, Capt. Luman, in charge
of tents at Camp Dutton, 220;
mortally wounded at Cold Har-
bor, 224.

Wadhams, Mrs. I,uman, becomes
nurse, 226; letter from, 226.

Wadhams, three brothers, killed
within 14 days, 226.

Wadhams, Mr., of Goshen, inn-
keeper, 96.

Wadhams, The, plant elms, 170.

Wadsworth, ciapt. of Sheldon's
Horse, 86; carousal at his store,
160.

Wadsworth, Elijah, built Oliver
Wolcott house, 147.

Wadsworth and Kirby, slitting
mill partially destroyed, 129.

Walker, Jos., on 1720 map, ii.

Waller, J., on 1720 map, i.

War declared on Germany, 247.

War Bureau, holds rally, 251.

War gardens, 249.

War Savings Stamps campaign, 231.

Waramaug see Weroamaug.

"Waramaug," first locomotive in
l/itchfield, 233.

Ward, Col. Andrew, commands regi-
ment, 73.

Ward, Henry, publishes The Mis-
cellany (1822), 138; The Republi.
can (i846-'s6), 139.

Ward, William, goldsmith, 134.

Warner, Col. of Roxbury, takes
Crown Point, 71.

Warner, Dr. Charles N., burgess,
260.

Warner, Mrs. Charles K., supervisor
Red Cross knitting, 250.

Warren, comprised in Indian "Ban-
tam," II.

Warren Land Co., 343.

Warv/ick, earl of, 7.

Washburn, William, Northfleld Con-
gregational Church organized at
his house, 186.

Washington, town of, comprised in
Indian "Bantam," 11.

Washington, George, quoted, 74;
his three visits to Litchfield, 89;
rebukes soldiers for stoning St.
Michael's, 163.

Water Company, Litchfield. 341.

Water-power of Bantam River, igt.

Waterbury American, quoted, 36.

Waterbury, its boundary, 44; court
given Litchfield County juris-
diction, 46; possible site of
Mattatuck, 9; visited by John
Marsh, 10.

Waterbury river, boundary of
Litchfield, 12.

Watson, James, lieut. in Beebe's
company, 75.

Watson, Nathaniel, shoots Indian,
22.

Watt, Robert, killed at Cold Har-
bor, 224.

Waugh, Alexander, lieut. in Good-
win's company, 81.

Waugh, Thomas, deeds land for
West Morris cemetery, 178.

Wax Work exhibited (1806), 124.

Weather in Litchfield, 206.

Webb, Catherine C, diary quoted,
119.

Webb, Joseph, lodges Washington
at Wethersfield, 89.

Webb, Lieut. Watson, musters in
county regiment, 221.

Webster, Benj., on 1720 map, ii.

Webster, Noah, studies in Litch-
field, loi ; diary quoted, 207.

Webster, Reuben, advertises run-
away servant, 155; house on
Prospect St., 169.

Weed, Jeremiah, at Fort Washing-
ton, 77.

Weed, T., in Beebe's company, 74.

Weir, James, killed at Chateau
Thierry, 255.

Weir, TTiomas F., describes
Chateau Thierry action, 255.

Welch, Major David, commands
company, 71; has Tory votes for
deputy, 82; advertises runaway
mulatto, 152; a settler of Milton,
189.

Welch, Hugh, iron puddler, 129.

Welch brothers, give bell to Mil-
ton church, 189.

Welch House, David; Milton
(illus)., 185.

Welch Houses, Milton, 189.

Welcome Home Day (July 4, 1919),
260.

Welfare work. Bantam factories, 193.

Weroamaug, Indian witness to deed
13, 16.

Wessells, Major, distinguished at
Santiago, 273.

Wessells. Gen. Henry W., sketch,
221.

Wessells, Leverett W., colonel of
county regiment, 219; sketch, 221;
his account of Col. Tallmadge
quoted, 136.

West Burying Ground, earliest
cemetery, 202.

West Cemetery Improvement Co.,
334-

West Farms (now Milton), 189.

West Morris cemetery, 178.

West Parks, its trees, 171.

West Street, 15; houses on, 350.

\Vpstern Lands, early name of
Litchfield region, 2, 8.

INDEX

Western Reserve, sale of, igr, 236;
administered by Seth P. Beers,

Western Union Telegraph Co., sued
by Humiston, inventor of du-
plex telegraphy, 188.

Wethersfleld, settlement of, 7.

Wheeler, Mrs. J. William, stables
described, 266.

Whipping-post elm, (illus)., 171.

Whitbeck, Chailes A., awarded
Croix de Guerre, 257.

Whitehead, Asa, marries Mary Ann
Wolcott, 150.

Whiting, Col. William, grantee, 12;
his charge for 40 deeds, 10.

Whiting, Jason, on committee to
buy volunteers' supplies, 1861, 218.

Whiting, John, at Fort Washing-
ton, 77.

Whittlesey, Roger N., contributes
gun, 74.

Wichfield, John, 2.

Wickwire, James, son drowned on
ice, 126.

Wilbor. Mary I,., pupil at Pierce
school; diary quoted, 114, 117, 118.

Wilcoxson, Gideon, dies in Sugar
House prison, 77.

Wildcats in Litchfield, 175.

Williams, Bishop John, consecrates
Trinitv Church Northfield, 1866,
186.

Williams, Dr. Talcott, makes ad-
dress at Welcome Home Day, 261.

Wilson, Edward, in war with Spain,
273-

Wilson, Roger, killed in action, 256.

Wilton, skirmish at (1777), 84.

Winchell, H., on 1720 map, i.

Winchell, N., on 1720 map, i.

Windsor, Conn., 2; settlement of,
7; granted Western Lands, 8.

Windsor, Vt., company to operate
Litchfield mines, located in, 215.

Wing and Shumway, publish The
Enquirer, (1865), 140.

Winsted, district courts at, 46; fur-
nishes Catholic priests for Litch-
field, i858-'82, 201.

Winsted Herald's joke on George
A. Hickox. 235.

"Winter Privilege" to hold religious
services, 178.

Winter Sports, 208.

IVitness. The, newspaper (i8o5-'o7),
138; its sensational career, 164.

Wognacug, Indian witness to deed,
13-

Wolcott family (chapter), 141.

Wolcott, Alice, owner of Wolcott
place, 149.

Wolcott, Frederick, described, 149;
portrait, 141; his narrative of
Geo. III. statue incident, 80;
serves on school committee, 97;
partner of his brother Oliver Jr.,
137; signs pledge (1789), 158; cuts
down his orchard, 171; funeral
sermon, 204.

Wolcott • (Frederick) House,

(illus)., ISO, 151-

Wolcott, Henry, original settler,
141.

Wolcott, J. Huntington, donor, 271,
326.

Wolcott, Laura, Mary Ann and
Frederick, their account of bul-
lets made from statue of Geo.
III., 80.

Wolcott, Mariann (- Mary Ann),
has smallpox, 42; letter to her
brother, 121 ; marries Chauncey
Goodrich, _ 149. See also Good-
rich, Mariann.

Wolcott, Mary Ann, (niece of
^bove) described by E. D. Mans-
field, 149; marries Asa White-
head, ISO.

Wolcott, Oliver, Sr., sketch of, 142;
lineage of, 141; letter from, 42,
first high sheriflF, 46; in Continental
Congress, 72, 80; signs Decla-
ration, 78; statue of Geo. iii.
melted at his house, 80; pro-
moted to brigadier, 81 ; letter
from Dr. Reuben Smith, 82;
orders troops to Peekskill, S7;
manumits slave, 152.

Wolcott, Mrs. OUver, portrait, 69.

Wolcott, Oliver, Jr., (Gov. Wolcott)
autobiographical sketch, 143:
portraits, 68, 167; quartermaster
at Litchfield, 79; in China Trad-
ing Co., 137; letter about slaves,
151; becomes a Democrat, 166;
criticized lor tree -planting, 16R.

Wolcott, Oliver S., at Litchfield
Law School, 107.

Wolcott, Gov. Roger (Conn)., 141;
on forfeiture committee, 24;
memorial address on, 141.

Wolcott Ave., houses on, 349.

Wolcott Library, see Library.

"Wolcott Memorial," viii.

Wolcott sisters, description of, 149.

Wolcottville (now Torrington),
Oliver Wolcott Jr., builds woolen
factory in, 137, See a-lso Torring-
ton.

Wolf Pit Farm, 176.

"Wolves and Presbyterians" in
Davies Hollow, 197.

Wolves, bounties for, 175; in Nor-
folk, 176.

Women's Auxiliary, St. Michael's
Church, 339; St. Paul's church,
340.

Women's Board of Missions, 336.

Women's Forum, 329.

Women's Guild, Cong. Church, 337.
St. Paul's Church, 340.

Women's Home Missionary Society,
337-

Wonposet, Indian grantor, 12.

Wood pile, for Mansion House,
(ilhis)., 97.

Woodbury, not in Western Lands,
8; men sent from, 22; sends
troops to Shepaug, 26; its boun-
dary line, 45; its rivalry with
Litchfield, 46; petition of South
Farms to join, 178.

Woodruff, Arthur, concerts, 268.

Woodruff, Charles, paid for pall-
bearers, 178.

N'Toodruff, Mr. and Mrs. Charles H.,
golden wedding of, 274.

Woodruff, Eben, on 1720 map, i.

24 INDEX

Woodruff, George Catlin, Sr., his- Woodruff, Morris, (portrait), 178;

torian, 210; (portrait), 210; at employs Salmon," brother of John

Litchfield I>aw School, 107; his Brown, 184; supporter of mis-

"Jlist. of Litchfield," vii; his sions, 185.

"Residents of Litchfield", viii.; Woodruff, N., on 1720 map, i.

his address at Centennial (1876), Woodruff, Oliver, in Beebe's com-

213; quoted, 8, 12, 27, 79; on politi- pany, 74; survivor of Bridewell

cal and relig:ious feeling in Litch- prison, 77.

field, 167; first vice-president Woodruff St., houses on, 356.

county historical society, 213; rem- Woodspell, minister's, 35.

iniscences of, 230; gives library Woolen cloth factory at Wolcott-

quarters, 271; golden wedding of, ville (now Torrington), 137.

274. Woolsey, Theodore D., historical

Woodruff, Geo. C. Jr., aid ac- discourse quoted, 104.

knowledged, ix. ; edits The En- Wooster, Levi S., builds up North-

quirer (1894 — ), 140; portrait, 140, field library, 187.

chairman War Bureau, 260. Worcester, Dr., blesses God for

Woodruff, George Morris, dedi- Litchfield, 185.

cation to, v; portrait, viii.; World war (chap, xxiii.), 245.

plants trees in East Park, 171 ; Wyantinuck tribe, 16.

golden wedding of, 274. Wyllys, Susannah, wife of Jedediah

Woodruff, James, contributes gun. Strong, 158.

74-
Woodruff, Hon. James Parsons,

{portrait), 300. Yale Law School founded, 108.

Woodruff, Judge Lewis B., at Yale, students of, give plays, 123.

Litchfield I^w School, 107; Veowomen in Great War, 250.

{portrait), 215. ' Young People's Society of Christian

Woodruff, Lewis B., present owner Endeavor, 337.

of Reeve house, 102. Young Women's Guild, St. Michael's

Woodruff, Lucy Morris, pupil of Church, 339.

Pierce School, 119; wife of O. S. Yuan Shi Ki, sends evergreen for

Seymour, 214. William W. Rockhill's grave, 171.

Woodruff, Matthew, shoots Indian, Zavotti, Pio, supposed killed in

22. action, 256.

ERRATA.

p. viii, line 9 from bottom, for Jennie read Jeanie

p. 3, line 11 from top, for insistantly read insistently

p. 5, two bottom lines, read: streams of water gushing

from the melting ice
p. 20, line 3 from bottom, for John read Joseph
p. 36, line 10 from bottom, for ridiclued read ridiculed
p. 42, line 10 from bottom, for may read many
p. 44, line 5 from bottom, for Housantonic read Housatonic
p. 80, line 15 from top, for set read sent
p. 148, line 6 from top, for thorougly read thoroughly
p. 157, line 12 from top, for liguor read liquor
p. 161, last paragraph. "The active temperance movement
in Litchfield was several times revived. I can ans-
wer only for the years of my own boyhood, but dur-
ing these years there was a very active lodge of the
Sons of Temperance in town and several other or-
ganizations, including one that was modeled directly
after that of Lyman Beecher's time and included all
the prominent professional men of Litchfield".
(A. E. B.)
p. 196, line 17 from top, 1 for Kinton, Hertfordshire read
p. 197, line 12 from top,- J Kington, Herefordshire
p. 203, top line, for Within fifteen years read In 1866
p. 205, line 11 from bottom, for Gimbred read Jones (see

page 114)
p. 219, line 6 from bottom; for unanimousy read unani-
mously
p. 351, The illustration opposite this page is dated 1920, but
obviously it was taken prior to the remodeling of
the Courthouse, probably about 1912.

University of
Connecticut

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